I'm curious which companions people like or find charming.
My favorite has been Gale; I find his voice actor really good. And it's funny when he bugs you to give him magical artifacts.

same to me. he's very charming. my ride or die. apparently, a new bug happens to him. His forearms disappear at some point .

btw they really make him look like his actor, Tim Downie.

Wyll and Shadowheart.

First one because I can try other classes for myself besides my absolute favorite class, the 'lock.

Second one because she is the mother of all cuties.

I really love all of them, but my personal favorite has to be gale too OP. He's so witty and comical. I love to see it in a wizard.

Are you referring to the new look some dataminer spotted in the files or there has been some other confirmation?

Edit -misread your post as “They are making him look like…”.

I'd have to say.. Lae'zel. From a writing point of view she's the most wholesome. Her motivation is clear and the pacing is good. She doesn't unload crazy stories on the player too early. Even though she's an alien from Astral plane she has a reason to be there, unlike.....

Astrarion. I don't buy into the whole vampire story. It just doesn't check out that tadpoles enter dead brains. Even if there was some imaginative explanation to that, he should have been introduced in an actual vampire plotline. A vampire character feels very taped on at this point. Vampires demand a good story, not just one character in an unrelated context. 0/10 for that.

Gale... liked him in the beginning because he seemed normal. Then he started being a bit annoying because of his arrogance. Then he told me a story involving a goddess that made me roll my eyes and not believe in the character anymore. He needs to be humbled at some point soon to be liked better. And tone down that ridiculous story please. These are level 1 characters. "Everyone was powerful and epic but got drained to level 1 by the tadpole" is not a good narrative device either, it's cheap and not very believable. I want to experience their true growth from aspiring to hero.

Shadowheart. Potential to be great with an intriguing storyline. But the ominous (and obvious!) name and the "oh I have such dark secrets and I can't ever tell you" attention seeking approach is the opposite of what an agent of Shar on a secret mission should be doing.

Wyll.. no idea. Never had him in the party. He seems and acts more like one of the lads than a Warlock with a hellish pact. Maybe it's the clever facade Shadowheart couldn't pull off.

All voice actors are great.

Shadowheart for me.

Gale and Shadowheart

Probably Shadowheart, Gale and Lae'zel

Shadowheart, best waifu.

A plus if you take her nemesis Lazael along. The harsh banter is real

Shadowheart now that she doesn't moan all the time anymore...
Wyll is really uninterresting.
Gale's story is way too wtf.
Not a fan of the Twilight style of Astarion.
I appreciate Lae'zel way more now than on release.

I agree voice actors for the different companions are awesome. The voice acting in general is incredible in this game.

Lae'zel ...
Githyanki are fascinating race for me, in both culturall and physical aspects ...
I admit she is smug and haughty, but honestly ... who of our companions isnt?
Plus i really dont like Shadowheart, so that is big +1 for her.

The only regrets i have is Narators comentary about night spend with her ... it sounds that whole sex was just awfull, and the next day you are feeling just horrible. :-/ Wich sounds weird to me, especialy if my character is ALSO Githyanki. O_o

I have been warming up to Shadowheart after they added some cautious positivity to her. With her background it makes sense for her to be defensive.

Gale is always a good chat, but his background still perplexes me.

I have been really happy to discover an option to impale Astarion on the stake when he tries to feed on you. Has it always been there? Is it new? Just too bad that the cutscene is missing.

All of the companions so far are selfish broken people. But that's the point.
Shadowheart is probably my favorite. Especially now that they make her not such a b***h.
I didn't use Astarion much until about 6 months ago. But once I realized how powerful he is as a Thief, he was in the rotation.
Wyl has a tragic life. But he is a fraud. I've probably used him the least. Though I started using him more once I stopped using Gale as much.
Lae'zel depends on what I'm playing. With a Paladin or War Domain Cleric, I didn't need her. My Githyanki Great Sword wielding Abjuration Wizard didn't need her either, but my kin was at my side the whole way. And besides having her and Shadow in the same party is fun.
Gale used to be a must have in every playthrough. Even when I played as a Wizard. But now his devouring every powerful magic item gets on my nerves. My last playthrough with a Land Druid, I told him to take a hike when I met him. Though with my current Divine Soul Sorcerer, he is very useful for crowd control.

Now that I'm not on my phone... This is the new gale model I was talking about, by the way:
https://twitter.com/chubblot/status/1449819560018911235

Hmmm, that looks more like a wizened old regent than a wizard to me xD. Gale the deposed regent of some noble house in Waterdeep and somehow being a magic devouring vampire, lol. Not sure which look look I prefer. Shouldn't they make Astarion resemble Neil Newbom more too then? or doesn't he look elven enough? or just too old

I'd have to see what they did with Shadowheart. She was my favorite some patches ago, because she felt like the most complete and because her relationship with a practical MC is actually pretty neat, yet after playing a bit yesterday i gotta say i was pretty underwhelmed by what they did with the option to save her during the intro. Feels quite shallow compared to the alternative.

But anyway, if she stops being my favorite then it's Lae'zel. She's the most normal out of everyone, and the only one with some kind of bro energy.

For me, it's beyond perplexity. I just loathe having to give him any of my artefacts. That's why I let him rot in camp in each of my playthroughs basically.

Shadowheart is my favorite. She has her secrets, yes, but she is also very practical.
The rest ist meh for me and Astarion I openly despise. I'm glad, you can send him away, after he attacks you.

I mean, its not like we have a whole lot of choices right now...and even in the future. Max 8 <companions>? BG2 was 20. Yea less detailed but thats over 20 years ago.
Low companion count, low classes count ...wtf is Larian doing with their millions?

Each companion in BG2 had ~15 minutes of voice work, in BG3 each one is on track for 15 hours of lines. And every NPC is fully voiced, too.

Honestly, I think the Origins system is eating up a lot of those resources, particularly in regards to the comparatively low roster of companions. Try playing a cleric of Shar, or a Githyanki . Hard to not get the feeling you are playing second fiddle to Shadowheart or Laezel.

As for my favorite companion, I'd have to go with Shadowheart. Not only is she a Cleric, which is really, really useful in-game both mechanically and with the large number of magic items that synergize well with healers, but she's also the one seemingly most directly involved with the plot of the game, what with her puzzle box and the emphasis on Shar v Selune in Act I an all that. But most importantly, she has way more dialogue than any other companion as far as I can tell. That helps a lot in getting attached to characters.

Lae'zel and Wyll are my favourites, their dialogues make me smile.
Gale comes second, last place is shared by Shadowheart and Astarion.

Definitely Astarion. Maybe Shadowheart as well.

Ummmmm...none of them? Personally I couldn't stand any of the current companions. Such a departure from the previous games.

I'm waiting, admittedly in vain, for a companion who feels a little more grounded and whose background isn't quite so exceptional and/or far fetched. Seeing as the next in line will apparently be a and Minsc, who feels like some token bone thrown to fans of the original games, I don't hold much hope.

I really like all the characters. I guess I’m fondest of Astarion and Daisy. Daisy is awful but I am still intrigued by him.

Astarion is interesting to me, because of what he wants to do with the tadpoles. It makes sense to me entirely why he might want to keep his. Also my character seems to smile whenever he sees Astarion more than the others. He is amusing. My character is interesting in freeing Astarion, as he is a cleric of Elistraee and they do not tolerate slavery so he hopes to help him someday.

I find Gale character charming but a bit of a blowhard. The other characters seem to think he likes my guy, but so far all he talks are about women he’s found interesting. He is cute but seems taken. He needs to indicate he’s interested in my character to be a convincing romance. He seems mor like a fun drinking buddy.

Shadow has a bit of the Winona rider thing going on, but I like her. Her commentary is touching and insightful. She seems friendly with my character and I imagine they are good friends.

Wyl is my least favorite character. He is just too wrapped up in his ex even more so than Gale. Perhaps I would like him more if he was introduced earlier but he seems too interested in revenge.

LA’zael I ever take for some reason. Her appearence reminds me of the grinch and I find her distracting. I do like her dialog, I just am not hugely into the Githyanki.

Lae'zel, hands down for me. Her voice is an exotic combination of rough, passionate, and breathy.


I took that night spent with her as being extremely intense and exhausting. Mind blowingly great instead of awful.

Shadowheart of course

"it's not like i like you or anything..baka!"

My favorite is Gale, I usually play Wizards, and really enjoy talking about magic with him, and like the attitude they gave him. His background story could be toned down bit though (which is true for all of them - none of them seems to be a believable level 1 character, but I'm not that bothered by it).

My least favorite is Lae'zel. If there was a good alternative I'd never take her along.

I love playing a sorcerer and telling him that sorcerers are better than wizards!

Thinking about this, I don't really have anyone who is a favorite to me yet, they all need a lot of work still. I really want to see the other companions and hope some favorites will be among them.

I always have a hard time deciding which divine caster I am going to take with me in my party: the innocent winged elf, the manipulative Harper, or the damaged but redeemable evil castaway. All of them are romanceable and they will bicker with each other if I have them together. Love seeing the fireworks! … oh, wait … that was BG2. Only have just the one option in BG3. I guess I’ll take Shadowheart.

If that was an option for Sorcerers, that'd be great (to take him down a notch, although it's wrong of course : ) ). I really like the class specific replies in the game.

A Wild Sorcerer is really fun to play (and Metamagic keeps things interesting), but in the end I always end-up enjoy playing a Wizard the most.

The only one I can take seriously now is Lae'zel.

Reminds me that if you play as a sorcerer, you can have unique dialogue options with Shadowheart when the weird magic appears on her left hand. Those unique dialogues kinda indicate who she really was before her memory wipe.

Still Lae'zel for me. First come first served lol

I worry about them switching around the looks and animations and tones though, in response to gripes about them being too abrasive. Like Lae'zel's new intro facial animations, they feel slightly puppy dog eye'd now (less evocative for me, unless that's just something down to the 16 in charisma and I never noticed before?) Also the weird thing with her new 'at ease' look, as if she's joined the secret service or a funeral home or something.

I can only guess maybe she's meant to be resting her hands on the hilt of a gith sword and the sword's just not there yet? I'm hoping its just glitching right now. I liked ice queen Shadowheart more than endearing shadowheart, and the whole bickerfest.

The more time I've been forced to spend with the fab 5 the less I like them changed. Just feels like EA special edition and backtracking. Make some new characters instead if we want party members who come across friendlier or nicer or whatever. I don't need that for this quintet.

Changing faces at this point also seems whack. Just look at the reaction to Minthara's appearance change. If they do it with Gale too? I get the voice actor wanting to be seen, but what about the dude who stood for the model scan? Seems like he'd be bummed. Or maybe they really aren't scanned off as accurately as at first it seemed. But still, that's Gale now. They can change his gear but not his face or even his hair. That's too much his thing at this point.

If they change Lae'zels face to make her less grinchy at this late stage in the process I'd be pretty annoyed there too. Though thankfully they probably won't cause she's in the big opening movie hehe.

Just give the companions modular head choices if they want more than one look for them, but retain the defaults we've come to know. At least as an option. Haircuts same deal. Give us options before taking away what we're used to.

Even if they aren't.

There's a reason if, like them or not, wizards are generally considered the all-around strongest class in D&D 5th edition (and frankly even in many of the previous ones).

Wyll I suppose. His folk hero aesthetic feels about right for a level 3-4 character and reaching by a pact is a nice touch and I like his heroic selfishness. Lae'zel would be next but she's just so chaotic stupid it grates fast and right now that's basically her entire personality but she does at least have a potentially interesting arc. Shadowheart is too dim to be involved in any kind of subterfuge, Gale is an entertaining jerk but someone really thought they were writing a character for an epic level game. The less said by or about Astarion the better.

"US" so far has been the best companion the rest are rather unlikeable save maybe Gale.

For me its really a tie between Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Astarion. They are so well written and the voice acting is amazing. I also find their personal quests the most interesting.

I can't stand any of them. They're all awful, though some far more than others.

Still waiting for my non-whiney, non-angst-ridden, non-hipster truly good companion.

Great! Love all the sorcerer class dialogue!

In BG3 wizards are good, but sorcerers are better!

I would agree, if not for the fact that the sorceres are able to cast 2 full action spells in one turn. It's not by the book, of course, but that's how it works in the game right now.

I'd rate them in this order:

1. Laezel is the best. She's written well. Her personality is solid, and she makes sense. It's painful to see how she's treated when she comes across the other githyanki, and one thing I really appreciate about her is that if you play a githyanki as Tav, your character's creche didn't teach you any of the purification stuff that Laezel talks about. So whatever she's getting at, it's unique to her creche.

2. Wyll is next. I hate his stats, but as a written character, I like him. I like his story, and I like how complex he is as a person. He sold his soul to be a hero, and it's clear that being good is important to him, but he's okay with lying, and when pushed, he's willing to violate his own sense of right and wrong to torture another person. To me, he feels like an intrinsically good person who's unfortunately addicted to something bad, which happens to be Mizora.

3. Shadowheart. I put her at number three because I can't be 100% sure where her story is going in regards to her missing memories. Right now, she plays her role very well in the party, but if it turns out that she's legitimately an evil worshiper of Shar, well, that's not coming across. At the moment, she seems confused, but with a goodness buried deep down inside of her. She's secretive yes, but almost in an innocent, immature way. If her story ultimately backs up all of this nuance, then wonderful, she climbs the ranks into one of my favorites.

4. Astarion. I don't hate him. Overall, I like his character well enough. It's just that I don't know enough about him right now. It's also difficult to trust him. He does his job as a rogue well enough, but I want to learn more about his background.

5. Gale. The absolute worst, no contest. Not only does he eat valuable magic items, he also comes to the table with a ridiculous, outlandish story about having a love affair with Mystra. I would prefer the characters to be a little more grounded. His backstory is, in my opinion, overly try hard. I appreciate that other people feel differently about him, but for me, I just can't get into his story or take any of it seriously.

1. I enjoy Shadowheart very much for her secrecy story and her pragmatic sense

2. killing Astarion in many forms and creative ways makes me enjoying him at every early playthrough

3. really love dragging Gale with me to kill him and through his body at my enemies while Shadowheart and I having a laugh

the other I don't really have an opinion.

I like Shadowheart, particularly after this latest patch. Gale is cool as well. The others all bother me to some degree or another. I guess Laz would come in 3rd... she's the way that she is simply because her culture is so alien.

Astrion reminds me of Lestat from Interview with a vampire.

He reminds me of Tim Curry in Rocky Horror

I like them all except for Gale. I was laughing out loud irl when he was explaining his “backstory”. Hopefully he's just delusional and that’s not his real backstory otherwise there’s just no taking him seriously/taking him at all.

Since I'm playing as a wizard, my favorite companion is Laezel. She wears heavy armor, and deals with enemies with her two-handed sword.

He is more about looking "good" then actually being good. He wants people to believe that he is a good heroic Blade of the Frontier, because that strokes his ego, not because he is a genuinely nice person with lots of empathy.

Gale and Shadowheart. There is a lot of mystery about them and it is very interesting probably how things would turn out in the end for them.

Lae'zel is an absolute badass and she's dedicated to getting the job done. My favorite no contest.

I must say im very surprised about that how often Shadowheart is mentioned ...
How does you people not bother that she is such ... her? o_O

You dont mind at all that she stick her nose to any of your business and demand of you complete loayality and honesty based on nothing ... yet she refuse to give you the same? O_o
You really dont mind at all all that talking about "yes i have a very important secret and i will never tell you" ? :-/
And worse of worst ... dont you really dont mind at all that she is now the most inconsistent follower we have? Since all those updates about her, to make her more polite and appreaciative ... are in quite harsh contrast to older dialogues that remain the same, where she is all edge and refusing? :-/

That inconsistency makes her more real, more believable to me. I don't think I know any human who is consistently single-minded like Lae'zel, or consistently proudy like Gail. Shadowheart, Asterion, and Wyll at least waver between facade and something less-facade, in a way that feels more human. And of those three, Shadowheart's inconsistencies feel the most convincing for me.

I thoroughly enjoy all the characters except Wyll. I can't stand his bragging.

He's one of those "all talk" people you just want to punch in the face.
He's no hero, he's a loser who cheated himself to success.

I see ... interesting.
Thank you for your answer.

Us

Wow, such a great discussion!

And Shadowheart has the top, for good reasons that all have been covered. ! can kinda see where the end goal is for each of the NPCs and all I can say is look out! When the other shoe drops about her past and how your character's influence over her completing her mission for Shar that she was programmed for, buckle up! It's gonna get really good.

Wyll is the classic redemption story that your PC gets to help on the backside thereof. You do realize that when we catch up to his patron, more than likely at the Towers, she will be the boss fight of Act 1. And how he is such a "playa" when you have Shadowheart and Lae'zel in the party at the same time, loads of fun.

Lae'zel Is, currently, the only beat stick we have, but I do agree, her story is pretty amazing! Looking forward to fighting a Dragon Rider in Act 2. And her banter with Shadowheart is enjoyable.

Gale was an auto include most of the time, especially when deliberately playing an evil party, you need his ability to learn clerical spells. Now a days, I don't even activate his intro and leave that way point undiscovered. The fact that he doesn't even have a tadpole, but seems to know everything about them, how he already understands how a devil thinks, his willingness to read the Thayan tomb, I'm pretty sure I know who he really is. We'll see if I'm right when the curtain lifts in Act 3.

Astarion is an absolute waste. I whiny wantabe vampire, seriously getting some bad flashbacks to Twilight. The only rare occasion I take him is when I don't take Shadowheart, who has the Urchin background and I don't create a rogue/take a background with sleight of hand. Personally, I betray him to the Hunter to help get on Lae'zel's good side. Oh, and we get to fight a vampire lord in BG when we get there with him in the party. No thanks.

What makes you think, that Gale doesn't have a tadpole? There is nothing in the game confirming that.

I second this question. I think it's more than likely that Gale does have a tadpole.

I get that he's the only one who doesn't respond by immediately connecting with Tav, like Shadowheart, Laezel, Astarion, and Wyll do.

But there are moments when Tav can push into Gale's head, so I think the lack of immediate connection is more of an oversight in the introduction scene. Largely because it played out better with Gale acting as he does when he comes through the portal.

Gale also has a tadpole power that he picks up at the same time as the other characters.

Still, who knows? It would be interesting if he didn't have a tadpole, if Larian managed to sneak something like that past everyone in early access.

Really? I allways tought its intentional expression of his (as he said) "very disciplined mind" ...
After all, it seems to me that using tadpole probing his head specificaly is at least slightly harder compared to other companions (never checked dificiulties really tho, it simply seems like that since i failed much more often with him, compared to others).

Since I mostly play dps mage type characters, for me, I personally like Shadowheart as she is very nice to you from the beginning and opens up to you later on when something happens to your character (don't want to spoil it for anyone that hasn't run into that). Aside from her personality, she is very useful in keeping yourself and your other companions alive. She's mostly my healer in the group. My second favorite and the one I usually romance is Astarion, I know he gets a lot of heat from some players because they don't like his personality (although I have run across other players that totally love him, he's an acquired taste, love him or hate him) but I can understand why he is the way he is. It's in his background story, he's a spoiled , high elf noble who happens to also be a vampire. He's very seductive. I keep him because it's always useful to have a rogue and his vampire bite ability is 100% effective on enemies. Lae'zel is a warrior so she's also good to have in my party, since she is the strength of the group and can take the most damage. As for Gale and Wyll, I only use them depending on the mission and if its a personal mission. They are my least, as in my experience they get hurt the most.

That is my interpretation as well, that Gale has some experience / training in resisting mental intrusions. You still can get into his mind, it just takes more effort.

Can you read the mind of anyone else who doesn't have a tadpole?

Gail clearly has a tadpole, no question. When he talks about them, 100% of the time it's "we", not "you". He only uses "you" in cases where "you" could be replaced with "one" (eg "then one's organs start to reposition themselves...")

It's pretty clear that Gale has a tadpole: powers, dreams, your initial meeting with him where he speaks of "our problem" etc.
Not sure why you believe he doesn't have one.

The male characters are cool in this game, but I prefer to have female characters and an all-female party. I don't particularly care for Laezel or Shadowheart, though

The one thing I did appreciate in the garbage that was Wrath of the Righteous was that you could have a full party of females. I wish Larian would make the same possible

I like all the characters but my favorite is definitely Lae'zel. She is badass and straightforward. 'Nuff said!

Gale and Shadowheart. Gale gets lots of points for being so chill when I ask him to stay behind--sort of like Imoen.

Shadowheart, because no one else is allowed to use healing spells that I've seen. Am I missing something? Can any other class use healing spells besides clerics? I feel like I'm forced to have her in my party every single time just because of her class.

Gale can learn healing spells from scrolls ( wizards are currently overpowered that way, they can learn every spell). If you play a druid or ranger, you have access to healing spells too.

Us.

All of them honestly. I wish the game didn't force me to choose only 3 to follow me

I'm currently using the save game edit to let you use all five...

I really hope there's some kind of lore reason for that, or they change it.

Wizards should not be able to learn divine spells from scrolls.

As for my favorites.... I don't have one. I find them all to be annoying in some way or another. Be it their class(wyll) or personality(everyone else).

That is true. Maybe it's a bug? I can't imagine, that this is on purpose.

The dog as you can play fetch. Other than that Astarion has a pretty macabre personallity and gives you the thumbs up everytime you do something diabolical. Lae'zel is linear and annoying, shadowheart is better since the patch and Gale is pretty fun.

On a side note the voice acting across the entire game is top notch. Just compare it to AAA gems like Woke Effect Andromeda and my face gets tired.

Yeah the voice acting is pretty good. Compared to say, wrath of the righteous or kingmaker where it's kinda crappy for about half of it.

Save Game Edit? Please explain.

Not really a fan of any of them. I want a female elf fighter, cleric, or ranger as a companion... or better yet, all three. Also we need dwarf companion options, and half-ling companion options, and gnome companion options. I say scrap the "origin pukes" and give us some variety to pick from. Or let us create or own party of 4 in single player mode. When game finally goes live the first death for me will be Astarian on the beach (he I can do completely without), Gale a close second. I may just kill them all so I don't have to deal with them later on in the game, but I need a few optional, or custom options available to replace classes that will be needed.

While I can understand the need for a plethora of companions as roleplay elements the way Larian has implemented entire back stories for the current lot has convoluted matters in terms of story evolution. More companion options will add entire story arcs to an already complex cascade. I do not dislike the companions in that I am sure they will add significant replay value but I like you enjoy Barbarian, Druid, bard and rangers as party composite. I think Larian has said there will be more companion options without complex "tadpole" arcs including Minsc and Boo from the original BG. As we are in EA and the intermittent feedback it is difficult to fathom where in the developement cycle Larian are currently. "It will be finished when it is finished" is all well and good but if the game remains in EA for too long many player will be burned out or pass master experts at the game on release.

Shadowheart, probably. She and Lae'zel are the only ones with both decent introductions and legitimate reasons to join the group, and also the only ones who interactions with my PC don't feel fucking janky for one reason or another.

If Lae'zel was given more dialogues (and i more options to call her out on her obvious greenness, god forbid), she'd probably edge out. I like her personality the most, bar the cringy jealous talk and BDSM stuff.

Here is the thing, although you will have to download the tool you need from github. It lets you open your savegame file and edit the amount of companions allowed in the party, allowing up to 8. It's best to only edit savegames from freshly started games, though, presumably to not screw things up by mistake.

All but Gale and Astorian.

Gale consumes too many artifacts. Though t might be fun to see where his condition leads if you do not feed him.

I have never liked the idea of Vampire characters...especially ones that heal spells/potions do not cause damage. If he dies and then is resurrected his vampirism should be gone as he would now be alive.

Bending the rules to a minor degree is one thing but this is too much.

One alternative for full healing would be knockout a bad guy and them let him feed on the unconscious.

Here's the thing... I am not a fan of these "origin" story arc's the way they are introduced. I would rather follow story arc's from NPC's I encounter, rather than ones within my party. I want the party to be about my character (the lead), not the supporting characters (the rest of the party). And I want to direct how that personality and background of my character is created. Mind you I understand that others feel differently, so have some interesting characters as options for those who like it. But don't force me to play with them, rather give a good story-line for the main character I create without needing those additional adds I may or may not care for.

To me this is the biggest flaw in Divinity II, force fed party members.