lol *67 pages - a lot of this has been talked about...

having six party slots available in the base game does not preclude you from still only taking four (while the reverse cant be said).

id argue that by having six party slots youd then be able to have more origin/npc characters in your party so you can experience more of 'the ppl you meet along the way' and i dont know why both 'Tav' and the origin companions cant get the same level of mechanical attention. personally, bg and to a greater extent dnd has always been about creating and playing my own pc as opposed to stock DM/larian npcs.

also, we may have different definitions of origin companions, but is that really a rpg gaming standard now? the way larian implements origin characters narratively makes me feel like 'Tav' surviving the ship crash is inconsequential to the plot - the story of bg3 would continue regardless without your character and instead just follow larian's origin characters, which i dont think is a great game design for a bg game.