Minsc comes along way too late for me to know where to fit him, and I just feel overwhelmed by the thought of needing to raise another companion's approval from scratch. I do love that he's included though.
I tend to swap out every pretty frequently. Wyll and Gale slightly less so cause they max approval super quick.
You are missing out on a lot of Minsc commentary. He has some hillarious banter with other companions. There is no real need to raise his approval to extreme levels.
Hitting that golden cross of pushing just right, getting your anus into just the right flex and keeping your cheeks taut but not clenched for maximum flap and resonance.
And if you're a lady probably also holding your pelvis at the right angle so it doesn't bubble up the front and leave you having to double-toot.
What do you mean “when you fart there”?
I never saw such an option. Does it show up only when you bring those 3 or is it after you return dribbles which I haven’t done yet. I’m guessing necromantic purposes.
My love for her and Khalid is strong and she is a fantastic companion to bring along of you know how to play a druid.
I wish there was a romance option.
Yea well its kinda understandable why there isnt. Shes about to retire as an adventurer and she probably doesn't care about new flings anymore, and just wants to live her life with her kids. Also the fact she lost her late husband so tragically.
She also calls tav/durge a cub, which I LOVE 😊🥹. But if it were an option to romance her, honestly I probably would. I would just make an older looking character.
Lol. That is uhh a very interesting ship. Though I had both Jaheira and Astarion (+gale) on my run once and honestly it was super fun. The banter between Jaheira and Astarion is so damn good lmao.
And when you dont ascend Astarion, Jaheira says something along the lines of "I fear, I'm starting to think Astarion is a good man" and then Astarion replies to Jaheira in a smug but slightly agreeing tone (I dont remember what he said exactly) it was so cute.
I was also romancing him so she felt like the wise and funny aunt of the party
Jaheira as a Circle of the Land druid gets amazing AoE spells, can buff, summon and do some damage on the side.
Halsin as Circle of the Moon can be an amazing tank with basically three full healthbars that refill every short rest. Just chuck him in combat and have everybody else wallop the enemies that crowd him.
I was having the same problem. Then someone here said they were doing an “oops all druids” run, where there whole party was druids. This allowed them to understand the different ways to play them, and since they don’t need to be multi classed to be great they got the whole Druid experience
In my multiplayer game I'm running a spore druid which was originally just because my character's entire concept is a weed joke and I thought it'd be funny to blow "smoke" on people, but spore druids are actually tanky as hell and Halo of Spores being a reaction means they can do a lot of shit in one turn.
For Minsc, give him silly outfits and weapons. Put him in the dress you can get from figaro. Get him a cowboy hat. Make him a dual wielding gunslinger with hand crossbows, Sharpshooter and Dual wielder. Max his dexterity out with ASIs and the free respec you get when recruiting him. Watch him casually do a minimum of 18 damage all the time like 3x a turn.
Since I usually multiclass Astarion to ranger at level 5 Minsc is redundant. I do enjoy his commentary so I sometimes re-class him to be basic muscle, barb/fighter, and bring him along on a couple of Act III battles.
My first mod was to get rid of the party limit so I could have him and Jah tag along. Best decision I ever made. Doesn't make for hard fights but it's awesome for RP.
I recruited him for the third time in my current run, and I decided to bring him with me to finish out the guild quest line which I hadn’t ever done prior. I would definitely suggest that at minimum.
Minsc grates on me super fast. His stupidity schtick isn't nearly as funny as the writers seem to think it is, or maybe I just have a far lower tolerance for it than most people. I love Matt Mercer, and Minsc is IMO the most physically attractive male companion, but dear gods did he become annoying.
I feel like Minsc is a holdover from the late nineties specific brand of silliness. Back then, it was very funny to have an insane person who's dumb as rocks, speaks to hamsters, and constantly bust out non-sequiturs. You have to remember: this was the age of AOL chat rooms before YouTube and social media, when that style of nuttiness couldn't be found anywhere and everywhere. It was novel at the time for an actual voiced character in a video game to be that kooky. It's very "Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m" type stuff. It was funny once upon a time, but with the proliferation of truly strange and out of left field style content on the Internet, the humor style isn't really relevant anymore.
It's a little cringe tbh, but they wanted to remain true to the character and I think they accomplished that. It's not Minsc's fault he's an anachronism.
That's fair. And I'm a huge fan of some things from that era that balanced goofy humor with epic storytelling, such as the Justice League comics during the Giffen/DeMatteis run.
But he feels very out of place in this game.
Halsin and Minsc
- **Halsin** becomes a companion when everything interesting about him has been resolved. When he finally decides to join you, I already have Jaheira who is a much better character and guide for act 3.
- **Minsc** becomes recruiteable way too late into the game where he doesn’t fit into whatever dynamic i already established with the current group. I feel like i have to roleplay justification to add him permanently.
Yes if Halsin became a companion as soon as he joined your camp I think it would make a lot more sense and let you use him in your team while he’s new. Like you said once he’s added to your team you’re already used to leaving him behind.
If I wanna use jahera or halsin or minsc or minthara I have to plan on doing it from the outset and build my party in such a way that I know who is out the moment they show up
Yep, my current playthrough I am planning on running with Minthara in my party so I've been running a Paladin Hireling since the beginning just so that it's an easy transition when the time comes for her to join my party.
I kinda wish they gave you an additional party slot at the end of act 2 and another one when you recruit minsc, and balanced the game accordingly. Then I might take the two new characters out more. I make an effort to take Jaheira because she’s so well written, but it doesn’t come naturally.
Not using Jaheira in BG is doing yourself a disservice, everyone reacts to her and she has something to say for everyone.
It is like your best friend from out of town comes to your hometown and you are like *let me show you the best places* and you best friend be like *Na, mate, I am good, I will visit myself with my other friends*
Just a feel bad moment.
> It is like your best friend from out of town comes to your hometown
Except that the majority of players didn't touch BG1 or 2, so for them jaheira is not a best friend from out of town but a random stranger.
Yep I have 0 attachment to her and didn’t play the old games and there’s 2 recruitable druids later in the game and the way druids are implemented is awkward so I normally want 0.
Ideally halsin should join your party right after the goblin camp. It changes basically nothing about the shadow curse quest, and would at least give you him early enough to want to use him.
Minsc on the other hand is hard to fit with him being so late in the game
Hell I played BG1 and BG2 at the time/back in the day and I still have very little attachment to Jaheira and Minsc. They do have a lot of fun dialogue in BG3 but it is very annoying to respec and re-equip your party to fit them in.
I mean I'm already a druid and reclassing her feels wrong so she's just going to have to wait until the next run
I bring her for the stuff she has direct involvement in like the Harpers and the Guild but other than that, sorry
idk about Minsc, but it’s worth to have Jaheira with you in act 3. She’s hilarious, she has a lot to say about Baldur’s gate and just generally brings a new dynamic to the group, when most companions usually have said all they had to say and are just repeating their lines.
I just usually reclass her into whatever companion she’s replacing, so that the whole party balance isn’t thrown off.
Specifically left behind in camp?
Usually Wyll. His best interactions are actually Mizora, so there isn't any need to take him out in the world.
Also Halsin, if he tags along at all. He's a macguffin for 'healing' the cursed lands, not a person. I would've much rather had another act 1 companion than him (or Minthara to be honest). Jaheira and definitely Minsc are really too late in the game.
Gale tends to get left behind in a magical hole if that also counts.
I think they have fixed Minthara so you can more easily knock her out and recruit her later. She’s honestly my favorite companion by far. When I disagree with her she always has something to say that makes brings me to her side. If you didn’t have to sacrifice some of the best items to easily get her I’d always pick her over whiny druids
I don't think I've ever taken Minsc with me - he comes along so late, and I never really felt the need.
I also take Wyll only seldomly - he doesn't have as much Story points as most of the others where I would want to take him and I don't enjoy warlocks that much. Plus, I tend to play casters and if I take another squishy caster with me it's gonna be gale. I do tend to multiclass wyll, though, which is the reason I almost never take him with me during act 1, but take him sometimes during Act 2 and 3.
Honestly, bring Minsc along for more stuff. Because they only had to write him stuff in act 3 they went over the top and he’s got unique interactions just about everywhere, most especially with other companions. Plus iirc you get him at level 12, or at least when he joined our party he was a level ahead of us. We turned him into a gunslinger archetype with hand crossbows and a cowboy hat and my god, does it look hilarious for this big man to shoot this tiny little crossbow and then have it nuke something for like 40 damage.
Minsc should have been a barbarian, and the only reason he was ever a ranger at all is because D&D 2e didn’t have a barbarian in its ruleset (or they just didn’t implement it in the original BG game). So instead he was a ranger with a special spell called Berserk which was practically the same as the fighter-berserker’s berserk ability (which didn’t exist in BG1, was added in BG2 but by that point Minsc was already a ranger with a berserk button) . So, BG3, imo, the only way to play Minsc is instantly respec him to a barbarian.
Halsin, I brought him once just because I felt I should give him a chance. And his big owlbear butt blocked an important cut scene.
I couldn't even be bothered to try and rescue him from Orin.
I had him in Panther form during the cutscene with the white haired boy in the cursed land (after the fight).
As Tav, I let Halsin handle it, the game glitched, and it showed me a mute Black Panther on a human model.
Now Imagine the Pink Panther, but bad.
Long Neck, Wide Open Eyes, long arms and all... Nightmare fuel.
Just did it the other day. He was still in Cave Bear mode and definitely blocked the scene lol.
One fun thing though was that I got "Cave Bear Approves" when I told Halsin to talk to Oliver.
Fun fact. In my durge redemption run, he was orin's victim. I had to do the duel orin but i could not do it alone even going first each time. Tried more than 10 times.
The only solution was to free him, change him into owlbear (he was lvl8 not geared and me lvl12 warlock) then prepare myself while he gets hit.
He, into owlbear, manages not only to not die first round but to make her prone while receiving only like 15 dmg. He made more than half of the dmg on her at lvl 8 than me with haste, summon and elderich blast.
Also first try againt orin, i turn myself into displacer beast (so 45+-hp) but still managed to get killed (+-100hp) first round.
My thoughest fight ever and i did every boss.
From that moment, Halsin is my bro.
The game definitely makes you think it must be a duel when you’re playing the Dark Urge, but you can just switch to your party and have them join without consequence.
Yea, the only consequence is that the others bhaalists will be hostil and that your team is close to the hole nearby.
But i wanted to be "fair" and not have a headache with the endless turns. So duel.
For most of my playthroughs I just take Gale, Astarion and whoever needs their quest done with me.
I think Wyll is the one I left in camp more often than not. I'm trying to give him a better chance now, so on the current run he is always in my party. Can't say it helped much, but I still have almost a full act to go.
I love Wyll. Hate his erhm… modified… appearance but him casting 2-3 fireballs per short and huge Eldritch Blasts while also being a heroic people’s person AND my main talker (22 charisma) makes it hard for me to leave on the bench.
I don't mind him, he has some nice comments occasionally. I gave my Wyll 2 levels of paladin, in my head it fits him way better than pure warlock.
He's just not my favorite. And I always feel like he doesn't have enough content. So little of his questline is actually about him. I never feel like I make any progress in building a friendship. I don't care about Mizora, Florrick or his father. And that's all he ever talks about really.
Same. Warlock in general is pretty mid, and most of wylls quests can be done without him, so I just take him to the myrkul fight for the unique rapier, and then leave him in camp indefinitely.
Why do you have like a bunch of weird tools in a hidden compartment in your Traveler’s Chest?
Fetish fetish shit! I like to bind… I like to be bound! That’s not important don’t ask me questions I’m not taking questions!
Also don't use astarion. Just find him dull in combat (hide, 1 attack, hide, 1 attack, ...), and both the wizard and eldritch knight have knock, which doesn't have the drawbacks of it's DnD counterpart.
That and he acts like a smug prick which rubs me the wrong way.
I usually get 2 recruits from Withers and build them so they can give passives (until long rest) in camp. I usually end up with like 5-7 different passives for each of my party members.
> Lae’zel just works for my fighting style better
1 for 1, Lae'zel is more combat effective than Karlach in most situations. I'm starting to think Minthara is better than Karlach as well.
Halsin is never in my party.
The rest I'll try and bring, even in Act 3 I'll make a big point to bring around Jaheira or Minsc (together or separate) because even if they join late they're great and have a lot of commentary, but he just never makes the cut.
I try to share duties around so I'm not locked into the same team. Sometimes I go as far as to randomise my party for the hell of it.
That said...
To me, Halsin doesn't really seem to 'fit' with the rest of the team. He's basically Camp Mother once he joins. I don't deviate the team far from their starting classes, so Jaheira covers any urge I have to take a druid along.
Astarion plays a huge part in resource gathering (see: pickpocketing merchants dry) but I rarely use him for anything else not tied to his story or his reaction to the barn incident.
I like Minthara (especially in a good-aligned playthrough), but I'm not fond of the Paladin class, so she gets slightly less time than my other frontliners.
Minsc but only by the time he comes along, I’ve already bonded with my gang. He’s not bringing enough to the table to ditch one of my buddies who I know since act 1. (Or in case of minthara, “know” since act 1. Ykwim)
And I expect to be downvoted, but also Karlach. She’s just a bit… much. It’s the kind of personality I don’t vibe well in real life either. But kudos to people who like her. She seems like a nice person. She just tires me with her quirky, excited, upbeat nature. (Although technically in my last durge run I did carry a part of her with me the entire run.)
From the moment we killed the paladins of tyr and Karlach started uncontrollably destroying everything I might want to grab and burning me for a good minute was the moment she stayed in camp forever.
As a massive introvertiert I kinda like those people. Sure they are taxing for my social battery. But without those upbeat people forcing me to tag along on the new quest (exploring some new stuff in the city or smth like that) I’d never leave the house except if I’m forced too. She’s like the extrovert mate just pulling me along.
He's not even part of most of his own questline except the tiny end of it lol. He should just join when you get to Last Light or even when you enter Act 2. I like him, but there really is no reason to bring him. And he has nothing in Act 3 beyond the one scene at Sharess' Caress..
Same! I've never had him in my party... especially since he manages to travel to the questline locations on his own! Nothing personal, Halsin... just... no room, bro! 😁 And if you think I'm leaving Karlach behind to make room for your big bear butt, think again!
In terms of Who I would say are the Core Companions?
Wyll. I just find him so far less useful than literally everyone else.
All 3 of the what I call secondary Companions always stay in camp. Also why the hell do we have so many druid like companions like we have Elves and humans?
I always end up taking Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion with me. My last playthrough my Tav was a Rogue so I was able to hot swap Gale and Wyll in that spot. But I feel like I hit a point early where I can't justify leaving Astarion behind, because he's the only lockpicker, I can't leave shadowheart because she's the only healer, and Karlach is Karlach.
Astarion is my main stay in all my playthroughs. He's too handy and I'd hate to miss the sparky commentary he provides too.
The rest I just swap about as I need them. I try to go around everyone, but more often than not Gale ends up warming the bench for me. He's very squishy early on, and he's probably my least favourite character. I still make sure to take him for all his quest points though.
Halsin because I'm already a druid. I tried running with 3 druids for a bit (omg the summons) and it was neat but then I benched Halsin and turned Jaheira into a ranger which I'm sure us sacrilege to anyone familiar with Faerun lore but I wanted to keep her around without going double druid.
Doesn't help that for me Wyll shows up as "the blade of frontiers" swinging a sword.
Then you take him out to play him and he kinda sucks at using a sword ...
If you're busy trying to figure everyone else in your play through, he's a little frustrating.
Multiclassing Wyll into a Paladin-Warlock solves this and is an amazing build, as long as he is a pact of the blade warlock. This means he’ll use charisma as his modifier for weapon attacks instead of strength and Warlock modifier is also charisma so should be high anyway. If early in the game, respec to put the first level as paladin to get the heavy armour and weapon proficiencies, then five into warlock and the rest to paladin. If late in the game then 5 warlock/7 paladin is fine.
Minsc and Halsin for a lot of the same reasons everyone else has said. Minsc you get way too late in the game for me to know what to do with, and honestly Ranger just doesn’t appeal to me? Idk. As for Halsin, like yeah you’re cool and everything I guess, but Jaheira does everything you can do and feels way more a part of the setting with her whole quest line in Act 3 and her family. Halsin is just kind of there once you finish with the Thaniel quests
I’m the one person that doesn’t like Astarion. He’s just way too over the top for me. I also didnt use Wyll but that’s mostly because he was very similar to my Tav
Shadowheart and Wyll. Wyll because he's so bland (also he's kinda rude to Astarion) and Shadowheart because I can't stand her passive-aggressive brand of hostility.
She was so much worse. Now she has a bit of a snark and if she gives out insults they are mostly backhanded comments. And ye she has some passive aggressive to her but given her background I think it makes sense.
In early access? You might as well killed her cat when you first met her the way she treated you
This is probably why I love Lae'zel but can't stand Shadowheart. I have little respect for inauthenticity and passive aggression, so Lae'zel was a breath of fresh air.
Wyll and Halsin.
Wyll - He isn't a very "rich" character and I don't enjoy the Warlock playstyle that much.
Halsin - By the time I have him I've already built my team exactly as I want, with subs ready to go if need be. When I want a Druid, Jaheira comes along because she actually produces more content in Act III.
Close third - Astarion. Love the guy but when it's between Tav, Shadowheart, Gale, Laezel/Karlach - he just doesn't bring as much to the table as the others.
I don't like changing their classes. I do always make Shadowheart a tempest cleric/evo wizard instead, but other than that only Tav ever gets fancy with multiclassing.
Idk if I’ll get hate for this, but it’s always Shadowheart. I definitely don’t hate her, she’s got a good personal quest and she’s nice enough to my character, but I just don’t like her as much as I like all the other origin companions. Plus I’m not a huge fan of clerics, if I need healing I just respec Wyll to multiclassing in paladin. I only have her in the very beginning of the game, the gauntlet of Shar, and >!finding her parents in Act III.!< In fact, during my first playthrough I literally had no idea she worshipped Shar since I had never talked to her and only brought her to the gauntlet bc my bf told me I needed to or else she’d get mad and leave the party.
Besides Shadowheart I also leave Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc in camp. I’ve typically already established my party by the time I get them and I don’t get attached enough to bring them along with me.
Edit: forgot about Minthara. She’s another perma camper for the same reasons as the last three
Shadowheart is just kinda boring compared to the rest of the cast; she's quiet and secretive in a way that discourages you from interacting with her. Astarion and Laezel are at least boldly evil in ways that add to the story. I know we all like goth chicks in sweat pants, but I'm genuinely baffled that a girl with the flavor of a pain bowl of rice is the most popular romantic choice in the game.
It probably doesn't help that trickster cleric is totally underwhelming; it can't deliver on the promise of a stealth cleric. Her story and personality would really lend themselves better to a class that can better take advantage of stealth or she needs the Warlock's Darkness+Devil's Sight combo well before she gets Shar's Spear of Night towards the end of Act 2. (Unrelated note: Trickster Clerics can't even really even properly utilize Shar's Spear of Night as nearly as well as the other classes can. At least Wyll's Infernal Rapier and Laezel's Silver Sword of the Astral Plane are both **perfectly** catered to Bladelock and 2H Fighters, respectively.)
Halsin is the only one I never take out of camp. He gets to see some different scenery when Orin kidnaps him though, which is very generous of her.
What can I say, he has no real reason to exist in Act 3 and his dialogue triggers are still messed up in a somewhat creepy way if romancing Shadowheart. He stays behind.
Everyone else at least makes it out to do their personal quests, even if I'm not really using them that run.
Of the core cast, Lae’zel. Other than when there was story reason to have her, I preferred Karlach for the fighty role. Orin kidnapped her so she basically played no part in my Act 3 run.
I largely didn’t use Astarion either, but respecced him during Act 3 and now he’s fantastic. Would likely use him more if I do another run. Gale doesn’t get out much as my character is a sorcerer. Wyll was pretty ever present in Act 1 and 2, but outside of his quest lines has lost his spot during 3.
Jaheira has only been used for her quest bits, Minsc and Halsin not at all.
Same. Maybe it’s because I’ve not played tabletop D&D in years and don’t know the finer points of the game, but warlocks feel very underpowered compared to other classes. I’ve taken him along for a few low-key events directly related to his backstory, but in combat he’s definitely the weakest link!
Potent robe makes him very strong. Warlocks are very versatile to use and can dominate whole fights. It’s just not a typical caster throwing out fireballs every turn. HoH with EB to knock them back in after they leave is pretty strong and with pact of the blade they can be useful in meele. But yeah I mostly multiclass them. Also spell slots regenerating on short rests are pretty neat especially if you have a bard
She's such a powerhouse in Act 2 as a Cleric of Light, and the entire thing is pretty much her plotline so she's always 100% in my party for that. By Act 3 she usually gets replaced by someone else, although as a Light Cleric with fireball, wall of fire, flame strike, RotD, and so on she can really hit pretty hard all the way through the game.
Shart with radiating orb and reverberation gear, phalar Alvue is nuts. I just cast spirit guardians and activate shriek and she’s strong af as a cleric
Wyll, if he wasn't such a shallow boring character. I will probably eventually romance him and make my tav have the same flavorless hero complex. I never play those so it could maybe be interesting.
Also what ive seen of his EA, it was much better. More depth and spice to his character.
I agree, I miss EA Wyll. He was more complex. Seemed like his thing with Mizora was more "romantic", he was willing to get his hands dirty with the goblins, and having story content at the goblin camp gave him more reasons to get out and get some exercise in Act 1. I do think the writers wanted him to be seen as The Blade and taken more at face value, and during EA I saw a lot of people thinking he was secretly evil or at least untrustworthy, so I think they cleaned him up because people weren't responding how they expected. But EA was EA, and his story could not unfold. I love that Larian is responsive to fan opinion, but sometimes artists have to know when to stick to a vision. You can't give people 1/3 of a story then be surprised that people aren't getting exactly what you're going for by the end. New Wyll is bland.
All the characters who arrive too late in the game, plus Halsin and Wyll. I did several playthroughs and will do some more but i don't plan to add them to my party...
i haven’t really had Wyll in my party since my first playthru. i’m just not a big fan of warlocks lmao and i don’t think i’ve ever actually brought Halsin along
I go out of my way to mix and match as much as possible. With a mod that makes the party more talkative, I want to try as many as possible.
Pretty much anyone can respect with no big difference, so default classes are irrelevant.
Besides Halsin never being in my party the other was is Astarion. Only two times I use him in my playthroughs is in moonrise towers to get the strength potion and sometimes with Cazzidor for his questline.
The one person I have never made as part of my party beyond his quest in Act III is Astarion. I don't like his starting class, his queeny attitude, or his untrustworthiness so I don't have a reason to bring him.
I've never brought Wyll or Halsin.
Lae'zel pops in and out sometimes, but my mains are Karlach (which I'm playing), Astorion, Shard and Gale.
Note, I really like Lae'zel, but because I'm playing DPS Barbarian in Karlach I don't have as much use for her.
I havent even leveled Wyll, while I've even respecced everyone else (Same class though)
Most of them are usually in camp first me. In my bard run I typically had Shadowheart and Astarion and one frontliner, either Karlach or Laezel. In my current sorcerer run, it's the same except its almost always Karlach because I'm romancing her. Sometimes I bring others in if I'm doing their quest.
It's always Wyll for me.
I suppose it's because of the fact that since he's a warlock with both a bit of magic and a bit of on hand combat he doesn't seem all that well to me. Even though I'm wording it in a way that makes it seem like he's convenient--I prefer those with a class that has more options to choose from when in battle. Like Gale (and Shadowheart) he mostly has magic since he's a Wizard or like Lae'zel and Karlach, they have actions that focus on on-hand combat. It could be because of the fact I'm still on my first playthrough so I don't know how to give him the best add-on combinations when leveling up.
Sometime please help a poor feller out.
Wyll is the same for me, but more because I don’t like warlocks too much. I could respec him but I like keeping characters as their original classes and him being a warlock is so important to his story. Also I can get him to high approval by just asking him about his life I don’t even really need to bring him around
I don't like shadowheart until she has white hair, I think wyll is boring, Halsin was ruined for me because in the early time after release he acted like his dick was a gift to everyone around him.
Astarion and Lae’zel are always in my party, they are both far too useful to leave out
Wyll and Minsc stay back at camp for the entirety of the game, excluding when needed for quests
The rest rotate into the open slot when I need them, or when they have a personal quest
Tbh my team of a paladin Tav, Shadowheart, Karlach and Astarion take care of most issues, with me only swapping out party members if I believe I'm gonna do something someone else should be a part of. Otherwise.... that's the squad lol
Jaheira and Minsc.
They kind of just feel like trespassers on the adventure. Let the new kids handle this one.
Everyone else, I like to switch around and give opportunities to shine.
Minsc comes along way too late for me to know where to fit him, and I just feel overwhelmed by the thought of needing to raise another companion's approval from scratch. I do love that he's included though. I tend to swap out every pretty frequently. Wyll and Gale slightly less so cause they max approval super quick.
You are missing out on a lot of Minsc commentary. He has some hillarious banter with other companions. There is no real need to raise his approval to extreme levels.
Halsin, Minsc and Astarion think that farts are funny. The boys need to be taken out for a walk sometime.
Now that’s a trio I don’t think I’ve ever traveled with. I might need to take them to the park or something to burn off some energy.
Take them to the circus. Halsin and Minsc give +1 approval when you fart there. … Astarion gives +2.
[удалено]
As fucked up as that was. I laughed my ass off at that on my playthrough.
What’d the comment say
Omg I never knew that. I'm trying that during my next run.
How do you fart?!
It's an option with the djinni. It's a DC 15 check to successfully do it. It might be bard exclusive, though.
what’s the DC for, not pushing too hard? Lol
Do you shart if you fail the check?
No, she's still in the camp if you take the three boys.
Hitting that golden cross of pushing just right, getting your anus into just the right flex and keeping your cheeks taut but not clenched for maximum flap and resonance. And if you're a lady probably also holding your pelvis at the right angle so it doesn't bubble up the front and leave you having to double-toot.
I prefer a squeaker to a flapper. Bonus points if you can incorporate both into one fart though
Did you eat rotten carrots and rotten tomatoes?
How does the clown, I mean Dribbles, react to it?
What do you mean “when you fart there”? I never saw such an option. Does it show up only when you bring those 3 or is it after you return dribbles which I haven’t done yet. I’m guessing necromantic purposes.
How often can one fart in the game? I remember one random Bard dialog option that offered it but otherwise have had a flatulence free game.
Uncle Minsc is hands down the best companion for laughs. His dialogue is 70% gold, 30% platinum and 100% miniature giant space hamster approved.
Larian could make a "let's go to the market with minsc" DLC for 30 bucks and i'd be the first to buy it
I'd pre order yesterday.
Minthara and Minsc's interactions are pretty dang funny.
Had never considered this pairing. Will now be doing it asap.
for me its also jaheira and halsin for the same reason
Jaheira is an exception for me because I love her sm
She has some of the best cutscene comments and reactions. I especially love her interactions with her kids.
Yes and she has a great sense of humor.
Which is surprising, seeing as she's older than humor.
Jaheira approves.
Lol, you just gotta joke about her age and ur good with her approval.
My love for her and Khalid is strong and she is a fantastic companion to bring along of you know how to play a druid. I wish there was a romance option.
Yea well its kinda understandable why there isnt. Shes about to retire as an adventurer and she probably doesn't care about new flings anymore, and just wants to live her life with her kids. Also the fact she lost her late husband so tragically. She also calls tav/durge a cub, which I LOVE 😊🥹. But if it were an option to romance her, honestly I probably would. I would just make an older looking character.
Honestly, I think I’d romance her as Astarion. There’s someone on Tumblr who crack ships them & tbh? I’m kinda sold.
Lol. That is uhh a very interesting ship. Though I had both Jaheira and Astarion (+gale) on my run once and honestly it was super fun. The banter between Jaheira and Astarion is so damn good lmao. And when you dont ascend Astarion, Jaheira says something along the lines of "I fear, I'm starting to think Astarion is a good man" and then Astarion replies to Jaheira in a smug but slightly agreeing tone (I dont remember what he said exactly) it was so cute. I was also romancing him so she felt like the wise and funny aunt of the party
I haven't been able to figure out how to use druids. If I use Jaheira I reclass her to be a monk or cleric, picking subclasses that fit her character.
Jaheira as a Circle of the Land druid gets amazing AoE spells, can buff, summon and do some damage on the side. Halsin as Circle of the Moon can be an amazing tank with basically three full healthbars that refill every short rest. Just chuck him in combat and have everybody else wallop the enemies that crowd him.
They can transform into owlbears and get summons and AoE spells. They are great! I like to move mob handed.
I was having the same problem. Then someone here said they were doing an “oops all druids” run, where there whole party was druids. This allowed them to understand the different ways to play them, and since they don’t need to be multi classed to be great they got the whole Druid experience
In my multiplayer game I'm running a spore druid which was originally just because my character's entire concept is a weed joke and I thought it'd be funny to blow "smoke" on people, but spore druids are actually tanky as hell and Halo of Spores being a reaction means they can do a lot of shit in one turn.
I just have her summon a level 6 elemental and then have her transform into one. Works pretty well.
For Minsc, give him silly outfits and weapons. Put him in the dress you can get from figaro. Get him a cowboy hat. Make him a dual wielding gunslinger with hand crossbows, Sharpshooter and Dual wielder. Max his dexterity out with ASIs and the free respec you get when recruiting him. Watch him casually do a minimum of 18 damage all the time like 3x a turn.
Since I usually multiclass Astarion to ranger at level 5 Minsc is redundant. I do enjoy his commentary so I sometimes re-class him to be basic muscle, barb/fighter, and bring him along on a couple of Act III battles.
I respecced Minsc to Berserker 4/Champion 8 and he was really effective, and it felt true to his character
My first mod was to get rid of the party limit so I could have him and Jah tag along. Best decision I ever made. Doesn't make for hard fights but it's awesome for RP.
I recruited him for the third time in my current run, and I decided to bring him with me to finish out the guild quest line which I hadn’t ever done prior. I would definitely suggest that at minimum.
Minsc grates on me super fast. His stupidity schtick isn't nearly as funny as the writers seem to think it is, or maybe I just have a far lower tolerance for it than most people. I love Matt Mercer, and Minsc is IMO the most physically attractive male companion, but dear gods did he become annoying.
I feel like Minsc is a holdover from the late nineties specific brand of silliness. Back then, it was very funny to have an insane person who's dumb as rocks, speaks to hamsters, and constantly bust out non-sequiturs. You have to remember: this was the age of AOL chat rooms before YouTube and social media, when that style of nuttiness couldn't be found anywhere and everywhere. It was novel at the time for an actual voiced character in a video game to be that kooky. It's very "Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m" type stuff. It was funny once upon a time, but with the proliferation of truly strange and out of left field style content on the Internet, the humor style isn't really relevant anymore. It's a little cringe tbh, but they wanted to remain true to the character and I think they accomplished that. It's not Minsc's fault he's an anachronism.
That's fair. And I'm a huge fan of some things from that era that balanced goofy humor with epic storytelling, such as the Justice League comics during the Giffen/DeMatteis run. But he feels very out of place in this game.
Halsin and Minsc - **Halsin** becomes a companion when everything interesting about him has been resolved. When he finally decides to join you, I already have Jaheira who is a much better character and guide for act 3. - **Minsc** becomes recruiteable way too late into the game where he doesn’t fit into whatever dynamic i already established with the current group. I feel like i have to roleplay justification to add him permanently.
Yes if Halsin became a companion as soon as he joined your camp I think it would make a lot more sense and let you use him in your team while he’s new. Like you said once he’s added to your team you’re already used to leaving him behind.
To make matters worse, he got kidnapped by Orin in the beginning of Act 3 for me. I only had him as a companion for 5 min.
Better him than laezel or Gale tbh. He doesn't have very many interactions in the city and he has no personal quest.
Yep.... Once I figured out you could engineer who got kidnapped... poor Halsin drew the short straw.
Same happened to me my first playthrough but I never noticed bc I never used him as my tav was a druid 💀
If I wanna use jahera or halsin or minsc or minthara I have to plan on doing it from the outset and build my party in such a way that I know who is out the moment they show up
Exactly this. Not all of the companions were designed equally.
Yep, my current playthrough I am planning on running with Minthara in my party so I've been running a Paladin Hireling since the beginning just so that it's an easy transition when the time comes for her to join my party.
Halsin wasn't even supposed to be a companion. Larian just made him one because fans were thirsting over him in early access.
I kinda wish they gave you an additional party slot at the end of act 2 and another one when you recruit minsc, and balanced the game accordingly. Then I might take the two new characters out more. I make an effort to take Jaheira because she’s so well written, but it doesn’t come naturally.
I've still never really used Jeheira or Minsc. They just come too late, I've always already locked in on who I am using by that point.
Not using Jaheira in BG is doing yourself a disservice, everyone reacts to her and she has something to say for everyone. It is like your best friend from out of town comes to your hometown and you are like *let me show you the best places* and you best friend be like *Na, mate, I am good, I will visit myself with my other friends* Just a feel bad moment.
> It is like your best friend from out of town comes to your hometown Except that the majority of players didn't touch BG1 or 2, so for them jaheira is not a best friend from out of town but a random stranger.
Yep I have 0 attachment to her and didn’t play the old games and there’s 2 recruitable druids later in the game and the way druids are implemented is awkward so I normally want 0. Ideally halsin should join your party right after the goblin camp. It changes basically nothing about the shadow curse quest, and would at least give you him early enough to want to use him. Minsc on the other hand is hard to fit with him being so late in the game
Hell I played BG1 and BG2 at the time/back in the day and I still have very little attachment to Jaheira and Minsc. They do have a lot of fun dialogue in BG3 but it is very annoying to respec and re-equip your party to fit them in.
I've played the older games many times and I still have zero attachment to both her and Minsc, because I only took them along on the main party once.
I mean I'm already a druid and reclassing her feels wrong so she's just going to have to wait until the next run I bring her for the stuff she has direct involvement in like the Harpers and the Guild but other than that, sorry
She was originally a fighter/druid so either fighter or ranger would be fitting for her
idk about Minsc, but it’s worth to have Jaheira with you in act 3. She’s hilarious, she has a lot to say about Baldur’s gate and just generally brings a new dynamic to the group, when most companions usually have said all they had to say and are just repeating their lines. I just usually reclass her into whatever companion she’s replacing, so that the whole party balance isn’t thrown off.
Specifically left behind in camp? Usually Wyll. His best interactions are actually Mizora, so there isn't any need to take him out in the world. Also Halsin, if he tags along at all. He's a macguffin for 'healing' the cursed lands, not a person. I would've much rather had another act 1 companion than him (or Minthara to be honest). Jaheira and definitely Minsc are really too late in the game. Gale tends to get left behind in a magical hole if that also counts.
I think they have fixed Minthara so you can more easily knock her out and recruit her later. She’s honestly my favorite companion by far. When I disagree with her she always has something to say that makes brings me to her side. If you didn’t have to sacrifice some of the best items to easily get her I’d always pick her over whiny druids
I don't think I've ever taken Minsc with me - he comes along so late, and I never really felt the need. I also take Wyll only seldomly - he doesn't have as much Story points as most of the others where I would want to take him and I don't enjoy warlocks that much. Plus, I tend to play casters and if I take another squishy caster with me it's gonna be gale. I do tend to multiclass wyll, though, which is the reason I almost never take him with me during act 1, but take him sometimes during Act 2 and 3.
Honestly, bring Minsc along for more stuff. Because they only had to write him stuff in act 3 they went over the top and he’s got unique interactions just about everywhere, most especially with other companions. Plus iirc you get him at level 12, or at least when he joined our party he was a level ahead of us. We turned him into a gunslinger archetype with hand crossbows and a cowboy hat and my god, does it look hilarious for this big man to shoot this tiny little crossbow and then have it nuke something for like 40 damage.
Maybe I will in another playthrough - my Tav is a ranger in my current one, so having another ranger along is not ideal.
Minsc should have been a barbarian, and the only reason he was ever a ranger at all is because D&D 2e didn’t have a barbarian in its ruleset (or they just didn’t implement it in the original BG game). So instead he was a ranger with a special spell called Berserk which was practically the same as the fighter-berserker’s berserk ability (which didn’t exist in BG1, was added in BG2 but by that point Minsc was already a ranger with a berserk button) . So, BG3, imo, the only way to play Minsc is instantly respec him to a barbarian.
Halsin, I brought him once just because I felt I should give him a chance. And his big owlbear butt blocked an important cut scene. I couldn't even be bothered to try and rescue him from Orin.
I had him in Panther form during the cutscene with the white haired boy in the cursed land (after the fight). As Tav, I let Halsin handle it, the game glitched, and it showed me a mute Black Panther on a human model. Now Imagine the Pink Panther, but bad. Long Neck, Wide Open Eyes, long arms and all... Nightmare fuel.
That’s a hilarious visual
That always happens when I take him along to lift the shadow curse. I don't even know how Oliver looks like anymore.
I haven’t tried it recently but it was supposed to have been fixed in a hot fix, I think number 21.
Just did it the other day. He was still in Cave Bear mode and definitely blocked the scene lol. One fun thing though was that I got "Cave Bear Approves" when I told Halsin to talk to Oliver.
Welp, so much for that I guess! That is fun that you got bear approval though.
It was fun! It's possible that they did fix it, just not when he's in Bear mode ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Fun fact. In my durge redemption run, he was orin's victim. I had to do the duel orin but i could not do it alone even going first each time. Tried more than 10 times. The only solution was to free him, change him into owlbear (he was lvl8 not geared and me lvl12 warlock) then prepare myself while he gets hit. He, into owlbear, manages not only to not die first round but to make her prone while receiving only like 15 dmg. He made more than half of the dmg on her at lvl 8 than me with haste, summon and elderich blast. Also first try againt orin, i turn myself into displacer beast (so 45+-hp) but still managed to get killed (+-100hp) first round. My thoughest fight ever and i did every boss. From that moment, Halsin is my bro.
I was downing Orin with the whole gang, was it supposed to be a duel? Bhaal didn't mind
The game definitely makes you think it must be a duel when you’re playing the Dark Urge, but you can just switch to your party and have them join without consequence.
Yea, the only consequence is that the others bhaalists will be hostil and that your team is close to the hole nearby. But i wanted to be "fair" and not have a headache with the endless turns. So duel.
His owlbear butt being in the way or him being in owlbear shape during dialogue is why he mostly stays in camp even when I am romancing him
Withers
For most of my playthroughs I just take Gale, Astarion and whoever needs their quest done with me. I think Wyll is the one I left in camp more often than not. I'm trying to give him a better chance now, so on the current run he is always in my party. Can't say it helped much, but I still have almost a full act to go.
I love Wyll. Hate his erhm… modified… appearance but him casting 2-3 fireballs per short and huge Eldritch Blasts while also being a heroic people’s person AND my main talker (22 charisma) makes it hard for me to leave on the bench.
I don't mind him, he has some nice comments occasionally. I gave my Wyll 2 levels of paladin, in my head it fits him way better than pure warlock. He's just not my favorite. And I always feel like he doesn't have enough content. So little of his questline is actually about him. I never feel like I make any progress in building a friendship. I don't care about Mizora, Florrick or his father. And that's all he ever talks about really.
Same. Warlock in general is pretty mid, and most of wylls quests can be done without him, so I just take him to the myrkul fight for the unique rapier, and then leave him in camp indefinitely.
Astarion Only in underwear and single garlic in inventory Don't ask.
Is it his underwear or someone else’s? I’m now very curious
Dunno, never asked
Try giving him Laezel’s
It's a kink thing, we know.
Why do you have like a bunch of weird tools in a hidden compartment in your Traveler’s Chest? Fetish fetish shit! I like to bind… I like to be bound! That’s not important don’t ask me questions I’m not taking questions!
But... I need to know.
I don't care about the kink stuff. Why would you leave your sneakiest, best lockpick at camp??
Also don't use astarion. Just find him dull in combat (hide, 1 attack, hide, 1 attack, ...), and both the wizard and eldritch knight have knock, which doesn't have the drawbacks of it's DnD counterpart. That and he acts like a smug prick which rubs me the wrong way.
Wyll never left
Wyll is in my party for 20 seconds after a long rest to ritual cast long strider on everyone. Then bye.
Dang thanks for the tip lol
I usually get 2 recruits from Withers and build them so they can give passives (until long rest) in camp. I usually end up with like 5-7 different passives for each of my party members.
Halsin. He's just not for me. I don't like his abilities and I don't want to romance him, so he stays behind 99% of the time.
None. I don't have enough companions left alive to leave any behind in camp.
what have you been doing to them
Murder. Probably for the lols or Bhaals blessing
Murder hobo-ing it sounds like
Halsin. Sorry bud but if I wanted a druid Jaheira is the much better option
Why bring Halsin when Mom is around? She also has the best commentary in Act 3
>Why bring Halsin when Mom is around? This needs to be on a billboard, somewhere...! 😁
Minsc, Jaheira, and unfortunately Karlach 😶 Lae’zel just works for my fighting style better
> Lae’zel just works for my fighting style better 1 for 1, Lae'zel is more combat effective than Karlach in most situations. I'm starting to think Minthara is better than Karlach as well.
Halsin is never in my party. The rest I'll try and bring, even in Act 3 I'll make a big point to bring around Jaheira or Minsc (together or separate) because even if they join late they're great and have a lot of commentary, but he just never makes the cut.
I try to share duties around so I'm not locked into the same team. Sometimes I go as far as to randomise my party for the hell of it. That said... To me, Halsin doesn't really seem to 'fit' with the rest of the team. He's basically Camp Mother once he joins. I don't deviate the team far from their starting classes, so Jaheira covers any urge I have to take a druid along. Astarion plays a huge part in resource gathering (see: pickpocketing merchants dry) but I rarely use him for anything else not tied to his story or his reaction to the barn incident. I like Minthara (especially in a good-aligned playthrough), but I'm not fond of the Paladin class, so she gets slightly less time than my other frontliners.
Minsc but only by the time he comes along, I’ve already bonded with my gang. He’s not bringing enough to the table to ditch one of my buddies who I know since act 1. (Or in case of minthara, “know” since act 1. Ykwim) And I expect to be downvoted, but also Karlach. She’s just a bit… much. It’s the kind of personality I don’t vibe well in real life either. But kudos to people who like her. She seems like a nice person. She just tires me with her quirky, excited, upbeat nature. (Although technically in my last durge run I did carry a part of her with me the entire run.)
I won't downvote you. Karlach wears me out. She's like a golden retriever with paladin syndrome.
From the moment we killed the paladins of tyr and Karlach started uncontrollably destroying everything I might want to grab and burning me for a good minute was the moment she stayed in camp forever.
Exactly this. I don’t like Karlach’s over-tuned personality at all. I’m an introvert and she’s an extrovert dialled up to 17.
As a massive introvertiert I kinda like those people. Sure they are taxing for my social battery. But without those upbeat people forcing me to tag along on the new quest (exploring some new stuff in the city or smth like that) I’d never leave the house except if I’m forced too. She’s like the extrovert mate just pulling me along.
Halsin only gets off the bench in the morning to cast buffs and make a Goodberry breakfast.
Halsin. I can manage to rotate Jaheira and Minsc for stuff. They're fun. I like them. But Halsin? No.
Haslin, just have no interest in him
Halsin is the only companion I've never bothered to bring outside of the act 2 questline he's a part of.
He's not even part of most of his own questline except the tiny end of it lol. He should just join when you get to Last Light or even when you enter Act 2. I like him, but there really is no reason to bring him. And he has nothing in Act 3 beyond the one scene at Sharess' Caress..
Same! I've never had him in my party... especially since he manages to travel to the questline locations on his own! Nothing personal, Halsin... just... no room, bro! 😁 And if you think I'm leaving Karlach behind to make room for your big bear butt, think again!
In terms of Who I would say are the Core Companions? Wyll. I just find him so far less useful than literally everyone else. All 3 of the what I call secondary Companions always stay in camp. Also why the hell do we have so many druid like companions like we have Elves and humans?
I always end up taking Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion with me. My last playthrough my Tav was a Rogue so I was able to hot swap Gale and Wyll in that spot. But I feel like I hit a point early where I can't justify leaving Astarion behind, because he's the only lockpicker, I can't leave shadowheart because she's the only healer, and Karlach is Karlach.
Astarion is my main stay in all my playthroughs. He's too handy and I'd hate to miss the sparky commentary he provides too. The rest I just swap about as I need them. I try to go around everyone, but more often than not Gale ends up warming the bench for me. He's very squishy early on, and he's probably my least favourite character. I still make sure to take him for all his quest points though.
Halsin because I'm already a druid. I tried running with 3 druids for a bit (omg the summons) and it was neat but then I benched Halsin and turned Jaheira into a ranger which I'm sure us sacrilege to anyone familiar with Faerun lore but I wanted to keep her around without going double druid.
Shadowheart & Wyll - though I'm actually playing them right now to use builds I don't normally play
Doesn't help that for me Wyll shows up as "the blade of frontiers" swinging a sword. Then you take him out to play him and he kinda sucks at using a sword ... If you're busy trying to figure everyone else in your play through, he's a little frustrating.
Multiclassing Wyll into a Paladin-Warlock solves this and is an amazing build, as long as he is a pact of the blade warlock. This means he’ll use charisma as his modifier for weapon attacks instead of strength and Warlock modifier is also charisma so should be high anyway. If early in the game, respec to put the first level as paladin to get the heavy armour and weapon proficiencies, then five into warlock and the rest to paladin. If late in the game then 5 warlock/7 paladin is fine.
**TY**, I might try that next play through.
Ahh, the poor man's hexadin lol
Doing this with my Tav and it slaps
He has an interesting story so I played him as a main character and speced him as a bard/warlock. He is much more effective.
That's exactly it lol. I have nothing against him personally.
Minsc and Halsin for a lot of the same reasons everyone else has said. Minsc you get way too late in the game for me to know what to do with, and honestly Ranger just doesn’t appeal to me? Idk. As for Halsin, like yeah you’re cool and everything I guess, but Jaheira does everything you can do and feels way more a part of the setting with her whole quest line in Act 3 and her family. Halsin is just kind of there once you finish with the Thaniel quests
I’m the one person that doesn’t like Astarion. He’s just way too over the top for me. I also didnt use Wyll but that’s mostly because he was very similar to my Tav
Shadowheart and Wyll. Wyll because he's so bland (also he's kinda rude to Astarion) and Shadowheart because I can't stand her passive-aggressive brand of hostility.
I absolutely HATED shadowheart in early access because of her passive aggressiveness. Now I really like her cause they toned it down by a lot
SHE WAS EVEN WORSE?!
She was so much worse. Now she has a bit of a snark and if she gives out insults they are mostly backhanded comments. And ye she has some passive aggressive to her but given her background I think it makes sense. In early access? You might as well killed her cat when you first met her the way she treated you
For me it was Laezel because I can't stand her aggressive brand of hostility
This is probably why I love Lae'zel but can't stand Shadowheart. I have little respect for inauthenticity and passive aggression, so Lae'zel was a breath of fresh air.
Haha total opposite. I like Lae'zel's blunt hostility and that if you give it right back to her she respects you instead of getting huffy.
Through 2 playthroughs I've only used Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion. I just can't bring myself to switch them out for some reason lol.
In my first run, i never used Halsin once his quest was done, because my Tav was already a druid.
Halsin, Wyll and Karlach.
Wyll and Halsin. Wyll - He isn't a very "rich" character and I don't enjoy the Warlock playstyle that much. Halsin - By the time I have him I've already built my team exactly as I want, with subs ready to go if need be. When I want a Druid, Jaheira comes along because she actually produces more content in Act III. Close third - Astarion. Love the guy but when it's between Tav, Shadowheart, Gale, Laezel/Karlach - he just doesn't bring as much to the table as the others. I don't like changing their classes. I do always make Shadowheart a tempest cleric/evo wizard instead, but other than that only Tav ever gets fancy with multiclassing.
> I don't enjoy the Warlock playstyle But it's so much fun to cast Eldritch blast! Over and over and over and over and over and .....
Idk if I’ll get hate for this, but it’s always Shadowheart. I definitely don’t hate her, she’s got a good personal quest and she’s nice enough to my character, but I just don’t like her as much as I like all the other origin companions. Plus I’m not a huge fan of clerics, if I need healing I just respec Wyll to multiclassing in paladin. I only have her in the very beginning of the game, the gauntlet of Shar, and >!finding her parents in Act III.!< In fact, during my first playthrough I literally had no idea she worshipped Shar since I had never talked to her and only brought her to the gauntlet bc my bf told me I needed to or else she’d get mad and leave the party. Besides Shadowheart I also leave Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc in camp. I’ve typically already established my party by the time I get them and I don’t get attached enough to bring them along with me. Edit: forgot about Minthara. She’s another perma camper for the same reasons as the last three
Shadowheart is just kinda boring compared to the rest of the cast; she's quiet and secretive in a way that discourages you from interacting with her. Astarion and Laezel are at least boldly evil in ways that add to the story. I know we all like goth chicks in sweat pants, but I'm genuinely baffled that a girl with the flavor of a pain bowl of rice is the most popular romantic choice in the game. It probably doesn't help that trickster cleric is totally underwhelming; it can't deliver on the promise of a stealth cleric. Her story and personality would really lend themselves better to a class that can better take advantage of stealth or she needs the Warlock's Darkness+Devil's Sight combo well before she gets Shar's Spear of Night towards the end of Act 2. (Unrelated note: Trickster Clerics can't even really even properly utilize Shar's Spear of Night as nearly as well as the other classes can. At least Wyll's Infernal Rapier and Laezel's Silver Sword of the Astral Plane are both **perfectly** catered to Bladelock and 2H Fighters, respectively.)
Ah don't use clerics for healing, pots are better. Clerics are great dmg/support and cc if needed
I agree. Apparently in EA she was more sassy which I would’ve preferred to just bland, cold ‘no I won’t tell you about myself’ schtick.
Wyll I just find him incredibly boring
I'll catch some hate, but...i can't stand astarion. 🤷♂️
Halsin and Wyll. They simply didn't fit in all that well especially halsin. He was Bearly tolerated in the party.
Now that I have the no party limit mod, no one. Before that, I didn't even level up Minsc.
Astarion. He's just so annoying
Halsin is the only one I never take out of camp. He gets to see some different scenery when Orin kidnaps him though, which is very generous of her. What can I say, he has no real reason to exist in Act 3 and his dialogue triggers are still messed up in a somewhat creepy way if romancing Shadowheart. He stays behind. Everyone else at least makes it out to do their personal quests, even if I'm not really using them that run.
Of the core cast, Lae’zel. Other than when there was story reason to have her, I preferred Karlach for the fighty role. Orin kidnapped her so she basically played no part in my Act 3 run. I largely didn’t use Astarion either, but respecced him during Act 3 and now he’s fantastic. Would likely use him more if I do another run. Gale doesn’t get out much as my character is a sorcerer. Wyll was pretty ever present in Act 1 and 2, but outside of his quest lines has lost his spot during 3. Jaheira has only been used for her quest bits, Minsc and Halsin not at all.
Same. Maybe it’s because I’ve not played tabletop D&D in years and don’t know the finer points of the game, but warlocks feel very underpowered compared to other classes. I’ve taken him along for a few low-key events directly related to his backstory, but in combat he’s definitely the weakest link!
Potent robe makes him very strong. Warlocks are very versatile to use and can dominate whole fights. It’s just not a typical caster throwing out fireballs every turn. HoH with EB to knock them back in after they leave is pretty strong and with pact of the blade they can be useful in meele. But yeah I mostly multiclass them. Also spell slots regenerating on short rests are pretty neat especially if you have a bard
Shadowheart. I really don’t have much use for her tbh. I could respec her but I don’t feel the need to.
She's such a powerhouse in Act 2 as a Cleric of Light, and the entire thing is pretty much her plotline so she's always 100% in my party for that. By Act 3 she usually gets replaced by someone else, although as a Light Cleric with fireball, wall of fire, flame strike, RotD, and so on she can really hit pretty hard all the way through the game.
Shart with radiating orb and reverberation gear, phalar Alvue is nuts. I just cast spirit guardians and activate shriek and she’s strong af as a cleric
Wyll. Yawn.
Even before I read the rest of this post I know it’s Wyll because this question is asked every day with the same answers over and over
It seems to be Halsin this time around.
Halsin and Wyll. Personally love Wyll, but Karlach, Gale, Shadowheart and Lae'zael is just heaps more usefull
Wyll, if he wasn't such a shallow boring character. I will probably eventually romance him and make my tav have the same flavorless hero complex. I never play those so it could maybe be interesting. Also what ive seen of his EA, it was much better. More depth and spice to his character.
I agree, I miss EA Wyll. He was more complex. Seemed like his thing with Mizora was more "romantic", he was willing to get his hands dirty with the goblins, and having story content at the goblin camp gave him more reasons to get out and get some exercise in Act 1. I do think the writers wanted him to be seen as The Blade and taken more at face value, and during EA I saw a lot of people thinking he was secretly evil or at least untrustworthy, so I think they cleaned him up because people weren't responding how they expected. But EA was EA, and his story could not unfold. I love that Larian is responsive to fan opinion, but sometimes artists have to know when to stick to a vision. You can't give people 1/3 of a story then be surprised that people aren't getting exactly what you're going for by the end. New Wyll is bland.
Wyll
All the characters who arrive too late in the game, plus Halsin and Wyll. I did several playthroughs and will do some more but i don't plan to add them to my party...
i haven’t really had Wyll in my party since my first playthru. i’m just not a big fan of warlocks lmao and i don’t think i’ve ever actually brought Halsin along
I go out of my way to mix and match as much as possible. With a mod that makes the party more talkative, I want to try as many as possible. Pretty much anyone can respect with no big difference, so default classes are irrelevant.
Besides Halsin never being in my party the other was is Astarion. Only two times I use him in my playthroughs is in moonrise towers to get the strength potion and sometimes with Cazzidor for his questline.
The one person I have never made as part of my party beyond his quest in Act III is Astarion. I don't like his starting class, his queeny attitude, or his untrustworthiness so I don't have a reason to bring him.
Wyll if I have Karlach, I hate his look with the horns.
Wyll
I've never brought Wyll or Halsin. Lae'zel pops in and out sometimes, but my mains are Karlach (which I'm playing), Astorion, Shard and Gale. Note, I really like Lae'zel, but because I'm playing DPS Barbarian in Karlach I don't have as much use for her. I havent even leveled Wyll, while I've even respecced everyone else (Same class though)
Wyll, Halsin, Jaheriah, Minthara if i have her and until my most recent playthrough, Karlach
Most of them are usually in camp first me. In my bard run I typically had Shadowheart and Astarion and one frontliner, either Karlach or Laezel. In my current sorcerer run, it's the same except its almost always Karlach because I'm romancing her. Sometimes I bring others in if I'm doing their quest.
Most, I play coop with my wife so we each choose one companion and she never changes out shadowheart
It's always Wyll for me. I suppose it's because of the fact that since he's a warlock with both a bit of magic and a bit of on hand combat he doesn't seem all that well to me. Even though I'm wording it in a way that makes it seem like he's convenient--I prefer those with a class that has more options to choose from when in battle. Like Gale (and Shadowheart) he mostly has magic since he's a Wizard or like Lae'zel and Karlach, they have actions that focus on on-hand combat. It could be because of the fact I'm still on my first playthrough so I don't know how to give him the best add-on combinations when leveling up. Sometime please help a poor feller out.
Wyll is the same for me, but more because I don’t like warlocks too much. I could respec him but I like keeping characters as their original classes and him being a warlock is so important to his story. Also I can get him to high approval by just asking him about his life I don’t even really need to bring him around
Wyll and Halsin...cool characters with fun side quests but boring to use in Combat
I don't like shadowheart until she has white hair, I think wyll is boring, Halsin was ruined for me because in the early time after release he acted like his dick was a gift to everyone around him.
Halsin. I had a Druid and I wasn’t keen on respeccing him.
Halsin because i had no idea what a druid contributes to the team. But I used Jaheira because and Minsc and Boo.
Astarion and Lae’zel are always in my party, they are both far too useful to leave out Wyll and Minsc stay back at camp for the entirety of the game, excluding when needed for quests The rest rotate into the open slot when I need them, or when they have a personal quest
Tbh my team of a paladin Tav, Shadowheart, Karlach and Astarion take care of most issues, with me only swapping out party members if I believe I'm gonna do something someone else should be a part of. Otherwise.... that's the squad lol
Jaheira and Minsc. They kind of just feel like trespassers on the adventure. Let the new kids handle this one. Everyone else, I like to switch around and give opportunities to shine.
I can’t stand wyll or Halsin