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#750057 08/01/21 05:58 PM
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I have heard conflicting things on the potential of non origin companions, so I am writing this on the possibility of there being non origin companions in the future.

One of the things I love in games is the potential to recruit varying perspectives and types of people (or even non people). So I end up especially loving companions that are unique or have a unique perspective, and while the current ones fit that bill I have noticed while playing BG3 that there were a few characters that I felt like if interaction was slightly rewritten or their story expanded they would make great companion characters or at the very least unique unprecedented ones that could have interesting narrative consequences, so I wanted to list a few and posit the question of should there be companions like these and if so who already in the world might fit the bill perfectly cause I do want to suggest some of these in a proper feedback thing if/when new companions drop?

- Us: Us ends up being an obvious one, being a temporary companion in the start of the game. As far as I know he was added late into development and I do not know if he will return to us. I miss him, and I think a Intellect Devourer could be very very interesting to have in the world, especially if he gains the ability to do the corpse possession intellect devourers can do.

- Lump the Enlightened: The way he is now, you can 'recruit' him as a warhorn thing, but I would actually like the option to hire him as a full mercenary, gold and the flesh of the fallen being his hiring cost. He would make a great Eldritch Knight considering he is quite the eloquent ogre, and he holds no particular allegiance to The Absolute. He would be a clear evil aligned companion and wouldn't have to be that deep.

- Minthara: As far as I know you can't properly recruit her as a permanent companion right know, but I think there should be the ability to do so should be possible with both the goblins and tieflings. The goblin side is obvious, but with the tiefling side she would have failed the absolute and been captured by you, this could lead to her having a form of a redemption arc or at the very least joining you out of the interest of survival as it is likely failing the absolute might have some consequences...

- Flind: This gnoll has a tadpole and with the right interaction you can temporarily command her to attack the Zhents, then her own pack, and then finally herself. But I would actually like the option to turn her against her pack and maybe 'recruit' her. The tadpole being the thing that is keeping her from going feral on the party and being a clear evil/violent companion. She could be reworked as a cleric/paladin of Yeenoghu or a barbarian. Over time maybe she would see the party as her new pack, becoming less savage to them.

- Shovel: Perhaps make the scroll that summons Him/Her(?) a more permanent thing, the little demon bound to you and stuck on this plane. Less of a familiar and more an unwilling demon companion. The little quasit could be in an Us situation where its mostly just the creature or instead could get a class like Wizard (Necromancer) or Sorcerer. Right now with him being a one time summon Shovel feels a little wasted so by making em more permanent they could be a unique and offcolor companion. Could make the way to break the binding that you actually have to kill Shovel to send em back or something.

- Spider Egg Sack: Right now this item is basically a throw and then attack to summon a ton of temporary spider followers, but maybe there could be the option to let it incubate and a more permanent spider forms. It could be a more beastlike companion, like Us, or maybe just a camp pet like Scratch.

- The OwlBear Cub: I wouldn't mind seeing the cub grow up into an actual beast and perhaps when it does grow up enough it could be recruited as a young adult. It seems to keep returning to us, and it would be cool to see em become more than just a camp pet.

- Volo and Halsin: Less uh unique than the others but right now Volo seems to just loiter around my camp, he could by chance make a great bard companion with this maybe being the first time players can actually control the classic character (not that the risk of him dying matters as previous games let you kill Drizzt). And Halsin would equally make a great and insightful druid companion to aid us.

- Efrin and Lorin: They are two individuals that we can 'save' from the Hag and her 'cures'. Lorin is scared of us but perhaps with the right checks we could maybe recruit him to avert our horribly tentacles fate, he would makea clear candidate for a divination mage and could have some unique insights on the world and its people. Efrin was petrified and after the Hag's death seems to walk and not suffer from his illness(?), he could make an interesting Fighter or Barbarian character, being a bit out of time and being a partial callback to the cleric in BG that we could unpetrify.

- Elfira: She would make an excellent bard companion and could certainly liven up our camp as she comes into her own, finding a place to belong and becoming a musician her teacher could be proud of.

EDIT: I forgot about Abdirak who is a follower of Loviatar and might be very willing to spread pain for his god as I don't think he has any particular loyalty to the Absolute and he could make a very interesting romance.

I don't quite know how realistic or feasible these ideas are and I might have missed any or missed reasons why these would be objectively bad or unfeasible.

Last edited by CJMPinger; 10/01/21 02:31 AM.
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In the old BG games, we've met companions along the way, so I'm pretty sure, we haven't been introduced to all potential companions. From the ones in this first area, only Karlach seems to be confirmed? I said in another thread, that I would love to have Alfira and Halsin as companions, love them both.

As for the spider - I think, that would be more of a summon? But I would love to see that. I liked the phase spiders in the Whispering Depths and would love one of them as companion ... even if it would be a bit shrewed, since you basically kill their mother.

I don't think, that Us would be so friendly now to us - every other intellect devourer attacks us now on side, despite them being friendly on the ship. I think, they know by now, that we are not allies anymore - maybe another sign, that the tadpoles in our heads have been tampered with and altered.

I'm ok with keeping the owlbear as a visitor to my camp. It's nice, when he is there, but I somehow have to wish, to keep him out of harms way after all he went through (I didn't kill the mother, she showed me the little one and I left them alone. I did fight and kill her at first, but the scene with the baby was so heartbreaking, that I reloaded).

As for unique companions - I would like to have a Myconid in my group - not temporary as it is the case now (temporary because I don't attack the Myconid colony, like them too much). They are an interesting bunch.


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Originally Posted by fylimar
In the old BG games, we've met companions along the way, so I'm pretty sure, we haven't been introduced to all potential companions. From the ones in this first area, only Karlach seems to be confirmed? I said in another thread, that I would love to have Alfira and Halsin as companions, love them both.

As for the spider - I think, that would be more of a summon? But I would love to see that. I liked the phase spiders in the Whispering Depths and would love one of them as companion ... even if it would be a bit shrewed, since you basically kill their mother.

I don't think, that Us would be so friendly now to us - every other intellect devourer attacks us now on side, despite them being friendly on the ship. I think, they know by now, that we are not allies anymore - maybe another sign, that the tadpoles in our heads have been tampered with and altered.

I'm ok with keeping the owlbear as a visitor to my camp. It's nice, when he is there, but I somehow have to wish, to keep him out of harms way after all he went through (I didn't kill the mother, she showed me the little one and I left them alone. I did fight and kill her at first, but the scene with the baby was so heartbreaking, that I reloaded).

As for unique companions - I would like to have a Myconid in my group - not temporary as it is the case now (temporary because I don't attack the Myconid colony, like them too much). They are an interesting bunch.


A Myconid could be cool, even as just a camp resident.
And I think that the hostility of the other Intellect Devourers is the purpose of the uh mutilate check on the ship, so that Us doesn't turn on you, and only bonds with you. Which is kinda messed up but matches the game's tone.
Also I do feel a bit bad killing the Cub's mother, though I find more often she attacks me outright and I get that messed up scene of the Cub just eating their mother...

Last edited by CJMPinger; 08/01/21 06:33 PM.
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Originally Posted by CJMPinger
Originally Posted by fylimar
In the old BG games, we've met companions along the way, so I'm pretty sure, we haven't been introduced to all potential companions. From the ones in this first area, only Karlach seems to be confirmed? I said in another thread, that I would love to have Alfira and Halsin as companions, love them both.

As for the spider - I think, that would be more of a summon? But I would love to see that. I liked the phase spiders in the Whispering Depths and would love one of them as companion ... even if it would be a bit shrewed, since you basically kill their mother.

I don't think, that Us would be so friendly now to us - every other intellect devourer attacks us now on side, despite them being friendly on the ship. I think, they know by now, that we are not allies anymore - maybe another sign, that the tadpoles in our heads have been tampered with and altered.

I'm ok with keeping the owlbear as a visitor to my camp. It's nice, when he is there, but I somehow have to wish, to keep him out of harms way after all he went through (I didn't kill the mother, she showed me the little one and I left them alone. I did fight and kill her at first, but the scene with the baby was so heartbreaking, that I reloaded).

As for unique companions - I would like to have a Myconid in my group - not temporary as it is the case now (temporary because I don't attack the Myconid colony, like them too much). They are an interesting bunch.


A Myconid could be cool, even as just a camp resident.
And I think that the hostility of the other Intellect Devourers is the purpose of the uh mutilate check on the ship, so that Us doesn't turn on you, and only bonds with you. Which is kinda messed up but matches the game's tone.
Also I do feel a bit bad killing the Cub's mother, though I find more often she attacks me outright and I get that messed up scene of the Cub just eating their mother...

Tbh I never mutiliated Us on the ship. WHen I found out, that he doesn't turned on me while being my companion in my first playthrough, I never botehred. I thought it unnecessarily cruel.

Oh yes tha tscene with the cub eating it's motehr is so messy and sad.


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I completely agree with making "Shovel" a once per long rest item ability rather than the current 1 time use scroll. Shovel's dialogue even says it's old master never summoned it for anything fun. That implies it was being repeatedly summoned and is simply not possible with a destroy on use scroll.
While on the topic of quasits...I noticed before patch 3 that the quasit frighten ability was once per either short or long rest. Don't know if this was changed but far as I know it is the only summoned pet ability that has a rest limit. Imps can fly each round or turn invisible at will, spider(ranger) pets can spam aoe webs every round but quasits can only frighten 1 thing? I think that should be changed.

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Originally Posted by OcO
I completely agree with making "Shovel" a once per long rest item ability rather than the current 1 time use scroll. Shovel's dialogue even says it's old master never summoned it for anything fun. That implies it was being repeatedly summoned and is simply not possible with a destroy on use scroll.
While on the topic of quasits...I noticed before patch 3 that the quasit frighten ability was once per either short or long rest. Don't know if this was changed but far as I know it is the only summoned pet ability that has a rest limit. Imps can fly each round or turn invisible at will, spider(ranger) pets can spam aoe webs every round but quasits can only frighten 1 thing? I think that should be changed.

That could also be a great way to handle shovel though I more meant shovel being summoned permanently and stuck around, but as a permanent item/ability that would be cool too. And yeah it was a bit weird the limit on Fear.

Originally Posted by fylimar
Tbh I never mutiliated Us on the ship. WHen I found out, that he doesn't turned on me while being my companion in my first playthrough, I never botehred. I thought it unnecessarily cruel.

Oh yes tha tscene with the cub eating it's motehr is so messy and sad.

Currently the scene feels pointless and cruel, though I must admit I might have a teensy bit of temptation to hit it cause of prior experiences with Intellect Devourers in Tabletop... But Us is our cute brain doggo so I tend to not.

Last edited by CJMPinger; 08/01/21 07:27 PM.
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I would love to add Alfira to either my recruitable party as a bard or something, or at least have her stick around as a camp follower (or romanceable love interest).

Ditto for Minthara, as she is quite unique and interesting. Also given that her spicy romance scenes were completed first, she seems to have been a dev favorite as well?

Last edited by Capt.Wells; 08/01/21 07:26 PM.

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I'd really like some non-origin companions, would make the game feel as huge and expansive with all kinds of interesting characters excited for adventure like the old BG games. Good suggestions from the characters who are available, too.

The origin companions are generally pretty neutral on a good/evil axis, like they have their preferences about specific actions but are ultimately kinda along for the ride with whatever. This is fine since y'all have a shared motivation and it makes sense in character. That said, it would be nice to have some characters like in the old games that you can really only party with if you're playing a certain kind of character -- be it goody two shoes or murder hobo. Also I loved the old game's situations where it's genuinely hard to keep party members from killing each other. That's also tough to have with the current cast.

Last edited by 7TeenWriters; 08/01/21 07:31 PM.
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Originally Posted by 7TeenWriters
I'd really like some non-origin companions, would make the game feel as huge and expansive with all kinds of interesting characters excited for adventure like the old BG games. Good suggestions from the characters who are available, too.

The origin companions are generally pretty neutral on a good/evil axis, like they have their preferences about specific actions but are ultimately kinda along for the ride with whatever. This is fine since y'all have a shared motivation and it makes sense in character. That said, it would be nice to have some characters like in the old games that you can really only party with if you're playing a certain kind of character -- be it goody two shoes or murder hobo. Also I loved the old game's situations where it's genuinely hard to keep party members from killing each other. That's also tough to have with the current cast.

I both liked and disliked the system where companions could quarrel with eachother, but I think it could work here where the game is more set up to allow the player to diffuse or pass judgement on situations in camp. And a varied cast allows the player to truly have a party unique to them.

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Originally Posted by CJMPinger
Originally Posted by 7TeenWriters
I'd really like some non-origin companions, would make the game feel as huge and expansive with all kinds of interesting characters excited for adventure like the old BG games. Good suggestions from the characters who are available, too.

The origin companions are generally pretty neutral on a good/evil axis, like they have their preferences about specific actions but are ultimately kinda along for the ride with whatever. This is fine since y'all have a shared motivation and it makes sense in character. That said, it would be nice to have some characters like in the old games that you can really only party with if you're playing a certain kind of character -- be it goody two shoes or murder hobo. Also I loved the old game's situations where it's genuinely hard to keep party members from killing each other. That's also tough to have with the current cast.

I both liked and disliked the system where companions could quarrel with eachother, but I think it could work here where the game is more set up to allow the player to diffuse or pass judgement on situations in camp. And a varied cast allows the player to truly have a party unique to them.

I agree, I really liked the old system but it'd be nice if the conflicts happened a little more naturally rather than on the road, in the middle of a battle, whenever, really.

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I forgot about Abdirak who is a follower of Loviatar and might be very willing to spread pain for his god as I don't think he has any particular loyalty to the Absolute and he could make a very interesting romance.

Last edited by CJMPinger; 09/01/21 01:41 AM.
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Originally Posted by CJMPinger
I have heard conflicting things on the potential of non origin companions, so I am writing this on the possibility of there being non origin companions in the future.

One of the things I love in games is the potential to recruit varying perspectives and types of people (or even non people). So I end up especially loving companions that are unique or have a unique perspective, and while the current ones fit that bill I have noticed while playing BG3 that there were a few characters that I felt like if interaction was slightly rewritten or their story expanded they would make great companion characters or at the very least unique unprecedented ones that could have interesting narrative consequences, so I wanted to list a few and posit the question of should there be companions like these and if so who already in the world might fit the bill perfectly cause I do want to suggest some of these in a proper feedback thing if/when new companions drop?

- Us: Us ends up being an obvious one, being a temporary companion in the start of the game. As far as I know he was added late into development and I do not know if he will return to us. I miss him, and I think a Intellect Devourer could be very very interesting to have in the world, especially if he gains the ability to do the corpse possession intellect devourers can do.

- Lump the Enlightened: The way he is now, you can 'recruit' him as a warhorn thing, but I would actually like the option to hire him as a full mercenary, gold and the flesh of the fallen being his hiring cost. He would make a great Eldritch Knight considering he is quite the eloquent ogre, and he holds no particular allegiance to The Absolute. He would be a clear evil aligned companion and wouldn't have to be that deep.

- Minthara: As far as I know you can't properly recruit her as a permanent companion right know, but I think there should be the ability to do so should be possible with both the goblins and tieflings. The goblin side is obvious, but with the tiefling side she would have failed the absolute and been captured by you, this could lead to her having a form of a redemption arc or at the very least joining you out of the interest of survival as it is likely failing the absolute might have some consequences...

- Flind: This gnoll has a tadpole and with the right interaction you can temporarily command her to attack the Zhents, then her own pack, and then finally herself. But I would actually like the option to turn her against her pack and maybe 'recruit' her. The tadpole being the thing that is keeping her from going feral on the party and being a clear evil/violent companion. She could be reworked as a cleric/paladin of Yeenoghu or a barbarian. Over time maybe she would see the party as her new pack, becoming less savage to them.

- Shovel: Perhaps make the scroll that summons Him/Her(?) a more permanent thing, the little demon bound to you and stuck on this plane. Less of a familiar and more an unwilling demon companion. The little quasit could be in an Us situation where its mostly just the creature or instead could get a class like Wizard (Necromancer) or Sorcerer. Right now with him being a one time summon Shovel feels a little wasted so by making em more permanent they could be a unique and offcolor companion. Could make the way to break the binding that you actually have to kill Shovel to send em back or something.

- Spider Egg Sack: Right now this item is basically a throw and then attack to summon a ton of temporary spider followers, but maybe there could be the option to let it incubate and a more permanent spider forms. It could be a more beastlike companion, like Us, or maybe just a camp pet like Scratch.

- The OwlBear Cub: I wouldn't mind seeing the cub grow up into an actual beast and perhaps when it does grow up enough it could be recruited as a young adult. It seems to keep returning to us, and it would be cool to see em become more than just a camp pet.

- Volo and Halsin: Less uh unique than the others but right now Volo seems to just loiter around my camp, he could by chance make a great bard companion with this maybe being the first time players can actually control the classic character (not that the risk of him dying matters as previous games let you kill Drizzt). And Halsin would equally make a great and insightful druid companion to aid us.

- Efrin and Lorin: They are two individuals that we can 'save' from the Hag and her 'cures'. Lorin is scared of us but perhaps with the right checks we could maybe recruit him to avert our horribly tentacles fate, he would makea clear candidate for a divination mage and could have some unique insights on the world and its people. Efrin was petrified and after the Hag's death seems to walk and not suffer from his illness(?), he could make an interesting Fighter or Barbarian character, being a bit out of time and being a partial callback to the cleric in BG that we could unpetrify.

- Elfira: She would make an excellent bard companion and could certainly liven up our camp as she comes into her own, finding a place to belong and becoming a musician her teacher could be proud of.

I don't quite know how realistic or feasible these ideas are and I might have missed any or missed reasons why these would be objectively bad or unfeasible.



Us - at some point, meeting him again and being able to make him a camp follower, yes, why not? Or an animal-like companion. Same goes for owlbear and the spiders.

The ogre mercenary -> I could see a reason for him to become a camp follower, simply because he is willing to join whoever might provide some profit for him. This means being able to make use of his help even more.

Fully agreed about Minthara, I have written quite a lot about possible interactions with her in the thread about Act 1 Druids vs Absolute conflict. She is just too interesting and well written to make her only possible to be spared, if we side with druids. On top of this, just like Halsin and Alfira, she is very popular. There is huge potential for a further plotline in her too, just like with Halsin.

About the Gnoll, maybe we could call her in the time of need like the ogre? With her normally sitting in a camp and providing a quest.

Halsin, yes, his writing, and character is top notch, almost everyone likes him too. +1 for making him a companion.

Volo, heh, the guy is a comedy gold. The more of him, the better.

Alfira - pretty popular character, wouldn't mind her be a companion or camp follower.


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