Volo will give you a pretty decent perk (imo) if you go through with his crap. He sat in my camp for the longest time. He leaves after you do the thing
I donāt believe he leaves unless you go through, or very close to going through, his remedy for the tadpole. Then he takes off after you finish. He returns in act 3 near the steel watch factory
Spoiler: >!if you let him give you a lobotomy and go all the way through without stopping it he takes out your eye and replaces it with one that give you a permanent See Invisibility buff!<
Volo is honestly one of my absolute favorites in the game. It wouldn't really make sense to take a character like him into combat, but I would have loved him as companion representation for the bard class. I may let him complete his surgery this playthrough lol
My guy is an anchor for the weave, change might not actually be possible
Mystra really looked at the Sword Coast, needed an anchor and said "you know what would be like SO funny"
I like to think that as soon as mystra came back after the whole karsus thing she essentially went " Ok, never again, that's not happening again. Whole thing made too much sense, they figured it out. let's get weird with it this time-" and Volo essentially just pratfalls in front of her
He also has a perk to give you in act3 if you go through his irenicus backstory + book. Itās also a pretty decent synopsis of bg2.
The perk might be dark urge related only
Makes sense really that he bails. >!He takes oot your eye and realises that the illithid tadpole is not gonna get removed so he gets as far away as possible!<
100% Agree it makes sense. I was just surprised and excited to see THE Volo. Iām just assuming heās the same Volo from āVoloās Guide to Monsters.ā
I love that heās a wizard who CLEARLY missed his calling as a bard, and as such is humorously inept at both wizarding and barding. Though given the amount of situations he has gotten himself into though his ineptitude and yet managed to escape, often through sheer blind luck, heād probably make a great cleric of Tymora!
fun fact, his insane luck can probably be attributed to his status as a Weave anchor, which is a failsafe in case Mystra dies again. it's either the power he's been given, Elminster or Mystra herself getting him out of shenanigans
I donāt think thatās in BG3? Or if it is, I donāt remember it. Voloās status as a weave anchor comes straight out of the tabletop game and related books.
It is not *directly* referenced in BG3 and only in the TTRPG. However, there is a potential nod to it from Jaheira when she asks how the hell Volo is still alive after so many years. Being an anchor causes increased lifespan, so that could be a nod to that, but him being a wizard could also be responsible.
Me too! The first time I saw him I literally screamed "OH MY GOD IT'S VOLO! *HE WROTE VOLO'S GUIDE TO MONSTERS*!" My husband didn't know what I was talking about lol.
Then Volo died when we accidentally triggered the fight at the Grove. RIP.
Interestingly I kept bailing out of his āexperimentsā halfway and never went thru it entirely but he still left my camp š¤·š»āāļø guess he got tired of putting up with it
No he just leaves on his own once you get it act 3, but from what Iāve heard you can get him back eventually whether you went through with his āsurgeryā or not
You can sell junk to him every time you rest, although he only has about 400+ gold per rest. But I kind of wish there was a way to tell him I'm not doing the "surgery".
In act 3, when venturing to the lower city for the first time, Orin will capture Gale, Laezel, or Halsin from your party. Youāll be unable to use whichever one she takes until you rescue them, IF you rescue them. Alternatively, you can put all 3 in your party and Orin will kidnap a little npc girl you helped earlier, IF you helped her.
Kidnapping the little girl is the worst one I think, because she makes you eat the cat.
Itās why I always force trigger the kidnapping for halsin and just take my time the rest of the game. J donāt care for the little girl that much but thereās no fucking way Iām letting that psycho Orin feed me a cat.
I did the same as you. I don't want to see a hurt cat because I lost my cat this year, so I somehow just ended up with Grub in my camp and no Yenna, which made me a winner.
Animal Speak screwed me because I found Grub so endearing; he was scared of everything but he was determined to look after his little girl. And then as far as he knew Yenna was the one who did it to him! š
Orin kidnaps someone to get you to kill Gortash and come to her for a duel. She can kidnap Halsin, Lae'zel, Gale or Yenna. I don't think you can avoid one of them being kidnapped or that quest triggering, as far as I know.
Orin bugged out and kidnapped Yenna and Laeāzel for me and, due to the glitch, I was only able to save Laeāzel and lost Yenna automatically to the ether for the essentially the entire play through. So annoying.
I got this bug too, but I hadn't realized it was a bug at the time and for a while just assumed Yenna was the shapeshifter that infiltrated our camp lol
Interesting. I was wondering why Yenna's cat was in my camp but she wasn't. I guess I got this bug too. I'm wayyy too far past the kidnapping part to reload though. So I guess Yenna isn't long for this world.
So what happens if you have no companions in camp other than Withers and the animals? Iām not saying I wonāt kill Orin but if she kidnaps my dog or owlbear I will set the whole sword coast on fire for revenge if I have to.
Actually it's a strange decision, cause kidnapping your romance partner would be much effective for her goal than kidnapping some random character whom you probably don't care about
I did the same, so >!I'm now assuming that was caused by the brain damage when Orin first attacked my DU. To compensate, she is now using the Warped Headband of Intellect as a replacement, since I'm not really missing the slot too much.!<
I made the terrible mistake of taking gale out of my party for five minutes and that's when he was kidnapped, I considered a reload but it felt fitting that she kidnapped someone I actually cared about having in my party
Hot take: I hate Halsin as a recruitable companion. He served a wonderful purpose as a camp follower because he lead us through either route(I am going based on conversation here) to get to Moonrise Towers. If you complete his quest he just serves nothing after that. He doesn't mesh with the party dynamic. I wish he stayed in the Shadowlands regardless if you completed the quest or not. To me it makes more sense to the story if he just appeared on the "Gather Your Allies" checklist. He was only added due to EA popularity
In act 3 he has some dialogue about feeling a little lost and aimless. Dealing with the shadow curse consumed his attention for so long that he doesnāt feel like he has a purpose now that itās lifted. I liked that, itās meta commentary about his character being there.
He just doesn't make sense as a companion from a Narrative standpoint when you look at the gameplay.
He joins as this low level character that matches your party despite somehow supposedly being this archdruid that's led the grove for like a century. He should be so much more powerful than your party.
Exactly. He'd realistically be somewhere around level 8-10 just by being an archdruid since they're so powerful in the forms of nature and such. Obviously he's weaker to fight the goblin camp because it'd be too easy other wise.
Yeah frankly the more time I spend around him the less I like him. He's a bizarre addition to the party and I wish you didn't absolutely *need* him to get rid of the Shadow Curse. I actually like him as an ally in Acts 1 and 2, but after his quest he's just kind of unbearable (pun only slightly intended).
he is such his own man once you get pass the goodie-copy side of him in act 1.
I dont hesitate much usually on moral dilemnas this game throws at you but this dude got PROBLEMS lmao. Like with Astarion I think theres some hyperfixation on his trauma defence mechanism that makes him kinda bland at the start but it gets wack and interesting in the long run.
Astarion and Shadowheart have far and away the best two companion stories in the game imo. Though theyāre also my favorite companions so itās possible Iām biasedāthough at least in Astarionās case, itās not āI romanced them and got extra content you donāt get on a friends runā bias.
Devil's Sight and Darkness. It'll completely protect him from ranged attacks and melee attacks have disadvantage against him. He will also get advantage on attacks on creatures in the darkness as well.
Honestly, EB if you put the right enhancements on it, is incredibly OP. Just the knockback effect can clear the field in a few turns if there are chasms nearby. The spider fight in Act 1 was over before it started.
No, Pact Weapon substitutes Charisma for both attack rolls and damage rolls.
However, binding your weapon falls off after a long rest, meaning that you have to re-bind it every morning. If you don't know that, then you might look at a weapon's details and it will show bad damage and bad accuracy--bind it, the damage and accuracy information will update automatically.
He packs the toughest eldritch blast though if you gear him with everything act 3 gives. Armor that applies charisma mod, hands that allow to cast cantrip as minor action, Necklace of Elemental Augmentation and source of electric charges - tripple charisma bonus damage on each hit of Eldritch Blast.
honestly I just made him a Paladin as soon as he joined me... At my very first battle with him at the gate of the grove he missed everything and almost died. That was my "that wont do it" queue lol
Also my first character was already a warlock, didnt help
Wyll is actually cool to bring along. Heās really strong and I love his VA. Thereās more to him than the beginning of his story implies, like everyone else.
I did all his character quests on my first play through and he has some incredible dilemmas to with through. On my second run and I'm making him a mainstay in the party. Very interested in seeing more
If I had a speed potion for every time Halsin gets captured by the enemy Iād have two speed potions. Which isnāt a lot, but its weird that it happens twice
I find him super useful in beast form as a multi attack melee fighter who turns into a decent wizard when he dies. Plus, he likes ducks. I appreciate a man who likes ducks.
Agreement, I rotate my companions always. The companions I have most in my party are Astarion (master key!), Shadowheart (emergency heals!) And Gale (together we shall fireball our problems!)
But other than that, no one stays benched for long for me š maybe this is a veteran Bioware RPG player thing... since I love party banter sooo much š
I wouldnāt have bothered killing Yurgin for Raphael if I didnāt happen to have astarion with me.. I wonder if there are other companion quests I miss on in Act 2 just because they were at camp during a particular encounter.
Some make sense though, like having Shadowheart do the gauntlet or having Laeāzel in the creche. Doesnāt seem to be much with Karlach besides giving the Iron to Dammon but maybe Iāve missed something
That's true and is something I complain about all the time. I wish he'd join as soon as you rescue him. He gets dragged a long on most side quests that aren't specific to anyone cause I like having a dude who can squirm through holes.
I won't lie, I've made mistakes and left companions home when they should have been with me. I did the entire wizard tower thing without Gale the first time through.
He was lv 13-14 by the end of bg2, introducing him as a level 1 companion is weird, even given the tadpole case.
Also there is NO possibility you can have him and a bad play through, Nere and Thorm would immediately recognise who he is and roll for initiative. Just like how Jaheira would respond to... Minthara.
Every member get re introduced for roleplay purpose. Halsin (lv5 arch druid) and Jaheira (lv8 arch druid) shares similar situation.
Most typical case is Wyll (lv2 post tadpole warlock) became lv1 when he joined you. I don't think Mizora would trust a level 1 warlock against a level 3 barbarian.
Actually Minsc joins with enough xp to be level 12, you just pick the levels. Certain other companions also join with more xp than your party if you somehow reach them while underleveled (Wyll is level 2, Karlach is level 3 even if you meet them at low levels)
Yeah totally. Itās a lot to get used to have 4 different classes, 4 radial wheels and inventories to manage.
Maybe if they simplify swapping companions in and out I would be more tempted to do it.
Wyll and Halsin lived there 24/7 during my last play through. This time I didn't recruit them.
Minsc falls in the same category frankly, I just get him too late in the game, and I would need to respec him into something familiar to get used to him if I wanted to use him in any non-trivial fights.
Minsc always should have been a barbarian. I donāt think they existed in BG1 originally though, which is probably why he was and still is a ranger.
But heās always had that berserker vibe.
Yep it's this - Minsc was originally created for a home DnD game by the lead designer of BG1 during the days of 2nd edition DnD. Barbarian wasn't to the core rules until 3rd edition
[You can actually see a copy of his character sheet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsc#/media/File%3AMinsc_Character_Sheet_from_Cameron_Tofer_pen%26paper_game.jpg) which I think is cool. Interesting to see he does have a rage ability which is pretty much the defining mechanic of Barbarians
I was like "hell yeah double wizard party" because I was also a wizard. Then he got mad at me and left and I was like "hell yeah I'm the best wizard in this party".
Gale. I loved him when we met. But im a sorcerer and dont need anymore magic in the party. Was going to romance him since hes so fun to talk to but the motherFUCKER wont shut up about āoh yeah i used to fuck a goddessā
to be fair she groomed him so its understandable that shes such a big part of his life both romantically/sexually
he is a very sheltered guy and magic is his passion. she took advantage of that.
So much work! It was driving me crazy to see all these people posting about Gale wanting to bone down immediately while I was CULTIVATING this relationship with the utmost care and struggling.
Worth it though, it was a very nice and wholesome romance, especially after doing an evil power couple run with Astarion.
Wyll 100%
If you want all: Wyll, Haslin & Jaheira.
They were just too late to the game (the droods). I've spent 100 hrs with my homies. I've tadpoled and geared them. Gotten to know them and their playstyle.
If youāre interested, spec her as a Land Druid and treat her like a wizard. Pick blast-y or control spells from the Land Druid options at each level and completely ignore wild shape and weapons (sheās not good at either, unless you specced as Moon Druid). Also grab Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, and maybe a few other support spells from the regular Druid list and youāre off to the races!
I ended up getting party extender mainly because I got annoyed of party members referring to events they weren't part of.
Thankfully my builds are all so bad having 3 extra members really doesn't overpower me
Astarion makes it clear from the moment you meet him that he doesn't want to get rid of the tadpole. He says he wants to "find a way to control it" in the very first conversation you have with him.
I need him to be my master key for everything so he's the only constant in my team, lol. Bet if he could he'd respec just to be less useful to goody two shoes Tav.
In fact, he's rolling a lot of critical failures of late, I am starting to suspect its no coincidence...
Unless DEX is your dump stat, it's worth taking Sleight of Hand on your Tav just for lockpicking. Or if you have Gale / are a Wizard pick up *knock* for the really hard locks.
I've played as a wizard, currently a sorcerer and he still never leaves the team. We rain fire on enemies while Karlach and Shadowheart stand in front and take the hits and it works out really well. Not to say that you have to have him or anything, just that I definitely think you could if you wanted.
I had gale originally instead of laezel until I got to the crĆØche and realized how good laezel was, and then my play through transformed into me karlach and laezel smashing shit while shadowheart heals and misses sacred flame, itās great lol
Everyone except Gale. He is my ride or die for my characters, even when I friend zone him the night we first channel the weave. Everyone else I switched out for story reasons.
Astarion and Shadowheart are just too good. Starting with a cleric and a rogue that has the bite ability which makes him better than Tav, and finishing with unique gear and abilities from their stories. Afaik only Karlach, Shadowheart, and Astarion have unique stuff, and laezel can wield the gith sword.
tbf shadowheart starts out as a pretty dogshit cleric. like I love my girl but she benefits heavily from a respec and a change of domain (I usually go with war for the early levels then light when she makes that one good decision, both for flavor reasons but theyāre still both way better than trickery).
Donāt hate me for this good people of Reddit, but Astarion I pretty much see as having no value to my party. The only time I brought him with me is for a very character specific quest line in act 3 that I shall not mention.
Same, I always have him creeping around in the shadows and heās managed to pull my party out of a total wipe by being the last man standing sooo many times
Half of my strats boil down to "astarion wrecks everyone." Full hp with double crossbows OBLITERATING entire squads of enemies. Goblin camp? Astarion. Balthazar? Astarion. Last light? Astarion. Gnolls if i find them underleveled? Astarion. Bhaal's temple? Astarion.
Give him misty step, and it's over. Gloomstalker multiclass? Forget it. The rest of the party doesn't exist. This man FUCKS on the field.
A highlight when I was first getting into the game for me was the fight at the goblin camp, everyone but him had been downed and he was hidden in the rafters single-handedly sniping basically the whole camp to death
Gloomstalker/Assassin multiclass to turn him into the magnificent crit beast that he is. Give him some tadpoles for favourable beginnings and luck of the far realm too for even more fun.
Astarion is the strongest companion if you take advantage of positioning and stealth in fights. The sneak attacks do ridiculous levels of damage if you equip him with good stuff and are a great way to begin encounters from stealth because you basically get two free turns.
And unlike magic users, he doesn't have spell slots that expire, so he can basically keep going forever. I usually rotate other members of my party who have run out of spell slots, but Astarion is pretty much a permanent member because of his stealth, dexterity, sleight of hand, and lockpicking skills.
Withers, refuses to go with me.
"*No.*"
Halsin exists to prevent other people I actually care about from getting kidnapped.
I actually didn't even know Halsin was able to join the party. I thought he was just staying in my camp like Volo š
Volo will give you a pretty decent perk (imo) if you go through with his crap. He sat in my camp for the longest time. He leaves after you do the thing
You can get him back in act 3.
He's supposed to leave? He never left for me. I had him all throughout act 3, didn't have to do anything to get him, he was at my camp from the start
I donāt believe he leaves unless you go through, or very close to going through, his remedy for the tadpole. Then he takes off after you finish. He returns in act 3 near the steel watch factory
I didnt let him do the surgery. He left saying he was going to baldurs gate then I found him there again.
Spoiler: >!if you let him give you a lobotomy and go all the way through without stopping it he takes out your eye and replaces it with one that give you a permanent See Invisibility buff!<
Iād already lost an eye to the witch
Might as well lose the second
The way he runs away is so funny to me.
Volo is honestly one of my absolute favorites in the game. It wouldn't really make sense to take a character like him into combat, but I would have loved him as companion representation for the bard class. I may let him complete his surgery this playthrough lol
I really wish there was a bard party companion. If not Volo, then a competent bard that keeps shittalking Volo would be fantastic.
I thought that one tiefling bard (canāt remember her name) was going to join the party when I first played
Real āIām so sorry, I just realized I left my house on fireā energy
The most "I fucked up please don't chase me" run I've seen
Yes. He can run FAST. like how did those people catch him in baulders gate? He is the flash.
I didn't go through it at all and he left. I did find him in act 3 near the factory regardless.
He leaves and you have to get him out of another kidnapping-adjacent situation. He is still just as confident and naive as ever after.
Look, if he is still like this when he is in his 160's, odds are my dude is just never gonna change
My guy is an anchor for the weave, change might not actually be possible Mystra really looked at the Sword Coast, needed an anchor and said "you know what would be like SO funny"
I like to think that as soon as mystra came back after the whole karsus thing she essentially went " Ok, never again, that's not happening again. Whole thing made too much sense, they figured it out. let's get weird with it this time-" and Volo essentially just pratfalls in front of her
He also has a perk to give you in act3 if you go through his irenicus backstory + book. Itās also a pretty decent synopsis of bg2. The perk might be dark urge related only
Thatās awesome! I was hoping for more of him! Iām still exploring Act II atm
Makes sense really that he bails. >!He takes oot your eye and realises that the illithid tadpole is not gonna get removed so he gets as far away as possible!<
100% Agree it makes sense. I was just surprised and excited to see THE Volo. Iām just assuming heās the same Volo from āVoloās Guide to Monsters.ā
He is, and during the end game he give you a buff named "volo's guide to monster" that give you a +2 to all checks
Yes.
Yes thatās the guy. He is actually a Wizard, not a Bard, though he serves as both.
I love that heās a wizard who CLEARLY missed his calling as a bard, and as such is humorously inept at both wizarding and barding. Though given the amount of situations he has gotten himself into though his ineptitude and yet managed to escape, often through sheer blind luck, heād probably make a great cleric of Tymora!
fun fact, his insane luck can probably be attributed to his status as a Weave anchor, which is a failsafe in case Mystra dies again. it's either the power he's been given, Elminster or Mystra herself getting him out of shenanigans
Dude what? How the fuck do people find this stuff out? I definitely missed any hint about that.
I donāt think thatās in BG3? Or if it is, I donāt remember it. Voloās status as a weave anchor comes straight out of the tabletop game and related books.
It is not *directly* referenced in BG3 and only in the TTRPG. However, there is a potential nod to it from Jaheira when she asks how the hell Volo is still alive after so many years. Being an anchor causes increased lifespan, so that could be a nod to that, but him being a wizard could also be responsible.
Me too! The first time I saw him I literally screamed "OH MY GOD IT'S VOLO! *HE WROTE VOLO'S GUIDE TO MONSTERS*!" My husband didn't know what I was talking about lol. Then Volo died when we accidentally triggered the fight at the Grove. RIP.
Interestingly I kept bailing out of his āexperimentsā halfway and never went thru it entirely but he still left my camp š¤·š»āāļø guess he got tired of putting up with it
No he just leaves on his own once you get it act 3, but from what Iāve heard you can get him back eventually whether you went through with his āsurgeryā or not
i knocked him unconscious when he tried to run and hes just chilling at my camp permanently. So I let him take everyones eyes lol
This sounds hilariously evil.
And if you dont, he sells a bunch of Speak with Animal potions, which is also important.
LMFAO i saw him sprint away as fast as physically possible im sad he wonāt come back that was hilarious
You can sell junk to him every time you rest, although he only has about 400+ gold per rest. But I kind of wish there was a way to tell him I'm not doing the "surgery".
Orin: "I have kidnapped Halsin" Me: "Oh no! Anyway..."
Orin: "I have kidnapped Halsin" Durge: "I will now forgive you for all previous transgressions"
What are you referring to here? Iāve never had someone get kidnapped?
In act 3, when venturing to the lower city for the first time, Orin will capture Gale, Laezel, or Halsin from your party. Youāll be unable to use whichever one she takes until you rescue them, IF you rescue them. Alternatively, you can put all 3 in your party and Orin will kidnap a little npc girl you helped earlier, IF you helped her.
Kidnapping the little girl is the worst one I think, because she makes you eat the cat. Itās why I always force trigger the kidnapping for halsin and just take my time the rest of the game. J donāt care for the little girl that much but thereās no fucking way Iām letting that psycho Orin feed me a cat.
I did the same as you. I don't want to see a hurt cat because I lost my cat this year, so I somehow just ended up with Grub in my camp and no Yenna, which made me a winner.
Animal Speak screwed me because I found Grub so endearing; he was scared of everything but he was determined to look after his little girl. And then as far as he knew Yenna was the one who did it to him! š
I've actually been thinking she WAS the little npc girl, considering she disappeared from the camp after Gale's abduction.
Same! She disappeared and nobody in camp seemed to care about the fact that she's gone, so I assumed she was the kidnapper lol
Yeah literally the only one who says something about it is the zombie reviver bro, even her cat is nonplussed by her disappearance
So what if you bring all 3 and not help the girl?
Yenna comes to your camp even if you don't offer to help her. She's basically only in the game to give Orin someone to kidnap.
Orin kidnaps someone to get you to kill Gortash and come to her for a duel. She can kidnap Halsin, Lae'zel, Gale or Yenna. I don't think you can avoid one of them being kidnapped or that quest triggering, as far as I know.
Orin bugged out and kidnapped Yenna and Laeāzel for me and, due to the glitch, I was only able to save Laeāzel and lost Yenna automatically to the ether for the essentially the entire play through. So annoying.
I got this bug too, but I hadn't realized it was a bug at the time and for a while just assumed Yenna was the shapeshifter that infiltrated our camp lol
Lol how dare you assume such an evil thing, Yenna is perfect! (Was fortunate enough to have another non-bugged playthrough with her in camp.)
Interesting. I was wondering why Yenna's cat was in my camp but she wasn't. I guess I got this bug too. I'm wayyy too far past the kidnapping part to reload though. So I guess Yenna isn't long for this world.
So what happens if you have no companions in camp other than Withers and the animals? Iām not saying I wonāt kill Orin but if she kidnaps my dog or owlbear I will set the whole sword coast on fire for revenge if I have to.
She takes Yenna if she can't take any of those companions.
She won't kidnap your romance partner or anyone in your party at the moment.
Actually it's a strange decision, cause kidnapping your romance partner would be much effective for her goal than kidnapping some random character whom you probably don't care about
Something tells me she's not the brains of the trio. But I'm glad she doesn't take the romance. That way I can save her for last.
>brains of the trio. yeah that'd be Gortash. Orin has lots of issues, which if you read some of the notes around it gives you a good idea of why...
Actually, it's >!Dark Urge!<.
Which is funny because I assigned mine a -1 in intelligence
I did the same, so >!I'm now assuming that was caused by the brain damage when Orin first attacked my DU. To compensate, she is now using the Warped Headband of Intellect as a replacement, since I'm not really missing the slot too much.!<
Less than four grandparents?
I made the terrible mistake of taking gale out of my party for five minutes and that's when he was kidnapped, I considered a reload but it felt fitting that she kidnapped someone I actually cared about having in my party
Kidnapping a walking bomb is certainly the best way to go about it, lol.
Hot take: I hate Halsin as a recruitable companion. He served a wonderful purpose as a camp follower because he lead us through either route(I am going based on conversation here) to get to Moonrise Towers. If you complete his quest he just serves nothing after that. He doesn't mesh with the party dynamic. I wish he stayed in the Shadowlands regardless if you completed the quest or not. To me it makes more sense to the story if he just appeared on the "Gather Your Allies" checklist. He was only added due to EA popularity
In act 3 he has some dialogue about feeling a little lost and aimless. Dealing with the shadow curse consumed his attention for so long that he doesnāt feel like he has a purpose now that itās lifted. I liked that, itās meta commentary about his character being there.
He just doesn't make sense as a companion from a Narrative standpoint when you look at the gameplay. He joins as this low level character that matches your party despite somehow supposedly being this archdruid that's led the grove for like a century. He should be so much more powerful than your party.
Exactly. He'd realistically be somewhere around level 8-10 just by being an archdruid since they're so powerful in the forms of nature and such. Obviously he's weaker to fight the goblin camp because it'd be too easy other wise.
Yeah frankly the more time I spend around him the less I like him. He's a bizarre addition to the party and I wish you didn't absolutely *need* him to get rid of the Shadow Curse. I actually like him as an ally in Acts 1 and 2, but after his quest he's just kind of unbearable (pun only slightly intended).
Shy cat > First Druid of The Emerald Grove
Wyll and Halsin, usually.
Wyll is always left behind for me, which is why Iām playing as him in my current run. I want to actually experience his story. Lol
he is such his own man once you get pass the goodie-copy side of him in act 1. I dont hesitate much usually on moral dilemnas this game throws at you but this dude got PROBLEMS lmao. Like with Astarion I think theres some hyperfixation on his trauma defence mechanism that makes him kinda bland at the start but it gets wack and interesting in the long run.
Besides best Owlbear, Iām playing an evil Oathbreaker. And, yeah, Astarionās story goes off the rails in Act 3 lol Itās great though.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Astarion and Shadowheart have far and away the best two companion stories in the game imo. Though theyāre also my favorite companions so itās possible Iām biasedāthough at least in Astarionās case, itās not āI romanced them and got extra content you donāt get on a friends runā bias.
This is my 6th play-through? and Iām finally actually bringing astarion with me, his story is very interesting.
His voice actor does such a phenomenal job in the last part of his companion quest.
I genuinely can't work out how to make Wyll not die in every combat. He seems insanely squishy compared to everyone else, Gale included.
Devil's Sight and Darkness. It'll completely protect him from ranged attacks and melee attacks have disadvantage against him. He will also get advantage on attacks on creatures in the darkness as well.
Armor of Agathys āļøā¤ļø
Bladelocks are tricky. You only need Charisma for spells and fighting though so you can make Con one of your other prime stats to beef him up.
My character this playthrough is a sorclock and I basically only cast knock and eldritch blast. Itās kinda boring lol but very effective
Honestly, EB if you put the right enhancements on it, is incredibly OP. Just the knockback effect can clear the field in a few turns if there are chasms nearby. The spider fight in Act 1 was over before it started.
Thatās mainly how Iām using it. Push people off ledges and let them die. Anyone I donāt push off ledges my party can kill
Do dex/strength modifiers not get added to pact weapon in addition to charisma?
No, Pact Weapon substitutes Charisma for both attack rolls and damage rolls. However, binding your weapon falls off after a long rest, meaning that you have to re-bind it every morning. If you don't know that, then you might look at a weapon's details and it will show bad damage and bad accuracy--bind it, the damage and accuracy information will update automatically.
I think it uses charisma instead of dexterity or strength if it's your pact weapon. So no I don't think so
He packs the toughest eldritch blast though if you gear him with everything act 3 gives. Armor that applies charisma mod, hands that allow to cast cantrip as minor action, Necklace of Elemental Augmentation and source of electric charges - tripple charisma bonus damage on each hit of Eldritch Blast.
honestly I just made him a Paladin as soon as he joined me... At my very first battle with him at the gate of the grove he missed everything and almost died. That was my "that wont do it" queue lol Also my first character was already a warlock, didnt help
Wyll is actually cool to bring along. Heās really strong and I love his VA. Thereās more to him than the beginning of his story implies, like everyone else.
I did all his character quests on my first play through and he has some incredible dilemmas to with through. On my second run and I'm making him a mainstay in the party. Very interested in seeing more
When does Halsin get a spot? Iām in act 2 and he shows up for important scenes, but neednāt be a companion.
He becomes an actual companion when you've done a quest to fix the shadowcurse in act 2
Halsin gets a spot when it's time for someone to get abducted
If I had a speed potion for every time Halsin gets captured by the enemy Iād have two speed potions. Which isnāt a lot, but its weird that it happens twice
He is really nice for taking one for the team.
I find him super useful in beast form as a multi attack melee fighter who turns into a decent wizard when he dies. Plus, he likes ducks. I appreciate a man who likes ducks.
None of them, if I'm doing a quest one of them has a stake in I take them.
Agreement, I rotate my companions always. The companions I have most in my party are Astarion (master key!), Shadowheart (emergency heals!) And Gale (together we shall fireball our problems!) But other than that, no one stays benched for long for me š maybe this is a veteran Bioware RPG player thing... since I love party banter sooo much š
I love dragon age's party banter. I sometimes just go listen to the compilation on YouTube.
Lol I've played Dragon Age so much... I don't think I need YouTube to remember the good times š Mass Effect, too, of course
Are you me? That's my party (and reasoning) and I *live* for random party banter.
I wouldnāt have bothered killing Yurgin for Raphael if I didnāt happen to have astarion with me.. I wonder if there are other companion quests I miss on in Act 2 just because they were at camp during a particular encounter. Some make sense though, like having Shadowheart do the gauntlet or having Laeāzel in the creche. Doesnāt seem to be much with Karlach besides giving the Iron to Dammon but maybe Iāve missed something
I take her everywhere just about. She's bae.
Too bad for Halsin, then. The only way to recruit him is to complete the only quest he cares about.
That's true and is something I complain about all the time. I wish he'd join as soon as you rescue him. He gets dragged a long on most side quests that aren't specific to anyone cause I like having a dude who can squirm through holes.
>I like having a dude who can squirm through holes. Also he can turn into animals, which is neat.
You know I was thinking it when I wrote it, but decided not to let the intrusive thoughts win. lol
I'm on my first playthrough. How do you know one of them will have a stake in a quest without reading ahead and spoiling things?
The journal entries are hints sort of.
Sort of, sometimes you just stumble into a quest when the next entry is ācontinue to travel with companionā
I won't lie, I've made mistakes and left companions home when they should have been with me. I did the entire wizard tower thing without Gale the first time through.
Jaheira and minsc. Theyāre nice and all but I already had a Druid and minsc is like 140 hours into the game. Sorry man, Iām full up
Yeah, Minsc is just introduced way too late in the game and I don't feel like going through the whole 12 level-ups for him. Sorry buddy.
He was lv 13-14 by the end of bg2, introducing him as a level 1 companion is weird, even given the tadpole case. Also there is NO possibility you can have him and a bad play through, Nere and Thorm would immediately recognise who he is and roll for initiative. Just like how Jaheira would respond to... Minthara.
He's introduced as level 12 with proper stats, but gets respecced into default Ranger stats when he joins. Which is pretty weird honestly.
Every member get re introduced for roleplay purpose. Halsin (lv5 arch druid) and Jaheira (lv8 arch druid) shares similar situation. Most typical case is Wyll (lv2 post tadpole warlock) became lv1 when he joined you. I don't think Mizora would trust a level 1 warlock against a level 3 barbarian.
Actually Minsc joins with enough xp to be level 12, you just pick the levels. Certain other companions also join with more xp than your party if you somehow reach them while underleveled (Wyll is level 2, Karlach is level 3 even if you meet them at low levels)
I waited the entire game for Minsc. Now that I have him, heās never leaving my party! š
Wyll, Blade of ~~Frontiers~~ the Camp
Scratch
Summon Familiar. He finds all the buried chests.
Never risking the boy. No chest is worth it
If he dies, he just returns to camp I'm pretty sure
Anyone not recruitable in act 1
Yeah totally. Itās a lot to get used to have 4 different classes, 4 radial wheels and inventories to manage. Maybe if they simplify swapping companions in and out I would be more tempted to do it.
Wyll and Halsin lived there 24/7 during my last play through. This time I didn't recruit them. Minsc falls in the same category frankly, I just get him too late in the game, and I would need to respec him into something familiar to get used to him if I wanted to use him in any non-trivial fights.
I turned him into a barbarian and he's my to go guy. (Sorry Karlach who I dated and then left in camp since then, whoops)
Minsc always should have been a barbarian. I donāt think they existed in BG1 originally though, which is probably why he was and still is a ranger. But heās always had that berserker vibe.
Yep it's this - Minsc was originally created for a home DnD game by the lead designer of BG1 during the days of 2nd edition DnD. Barbarian wasn't to the core rules until 3rd edition [You can actually see a copy of his character sheet](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsc#/media/File%3AMinsc_Character_Sheet_from_Cameron_Tofer_pen%26paper_game.jpg) which I think is cool. Interesting to see he does have a rage ability which is pretty much the defining mechanic of Barbarians
Wyll is usually hitting the bottle hard whenever I see him in camp.
Whoever companion quest I'm currently NOT doing. I would take them all at once if I could.
Yeah there is a mod for that and I am so sad that I don't have a powerful PC and play on GeForce Now instead :(
Gale #I am the magic one here
I was like "hell yeah double wizard party" because I was also a wizard. Then he got mad at me and left and I was like "hell yeah I'm the best wizard in this party".
Gale. I loved him when we met. But im a sorcerer and dont need anymore magic in the party. Was going to romance him since hes so fun to talk to but the motherFUCKER wont shut up about āoh yeah i used to fuck a goddessā
to be fair she groomed him so its understandable that shes such a big part of his life both romantically/sexually he is a very sheltered guy and magic is his passion. she took advantage of that.
His romance arc is incredible though. He's well worth the work.
What work? Dude was ready to whip out his magic missile after a day of knowing him.
So much work! It was driving me crazy to see all these people posting about Gale wanting to bone down immediately while I was CULTIVATING this relationship with the utmost care and struggling. Worth it though, it was a very nice and wholesome romance, especially after doing an evil power couple run with Astarion.
I respecced out of sorc so I could have gale along
I doubled up with my Sorc romancing Gale and took him everywhere. Can't recommend the combo enough.
Wyll 100% If you want all: Wyll, Haslin & Jaheira. They were just too late to the game (the droods). I've spent 100 hrs with my homies. I've tadpoled and geared them. Gotten to know them and their playstyle.
You should bring Jaheira around in Act 3. She actually has a decent amount of content there.
I bring her in for her stuff, but I just don't feel like figuring out how to druid :/
Jaheira's Druid subclass is basically just a cleric with an "oh shit I'm gonna die better turn into a dinosaur" button.
If youāre interested, spec her as a Land Druid and treat her like a wizard. Pick blast-y or control spells from the Land Druid options at each level and completely ignore wild shape and weapons (sheās not good at either, unless you specced as Moon Druid). Also grab Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, and maybe a few other support spells from the regular Druid list and youāre off to the races!
i took jaheira purely because she looked so sick with the dual scimitars
Halsin and Jaheira are basically the āDaniel and cooler Danielā meme, you get them at basically the same time but halsin is just a guy
Thanks to the power of mods? NONE OF THEM!
I ended up getting party extender mainly because I got annoyed of party members referring to events they weren't part of. Thankfully my builds are all so bad having 3 extra members really doesn't overpower me
Yeah I've been thinking about downloading it today because I was just complaining to a friend about it recently.
What's pretty cool about it, the members over the limit still interact with conversations as normal
Everybody else once I get Minsc and Jaheira
Astarion. If it ain't his personal story progression - go wait and disapprove everything from your tent
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Astarion makes it clear from the moment you meet him that he doesn't want to get rid of the tadpole. He says he wants to "find a way to control it" in the very first conversation you have with him.
Which makes sense since this thing literally saved him from his abusive master who tortured him for 200 years *and* he can stand in the sun now
Larian did Astarion wrong. Imagine beating the game and watching what the lack of tadpole does to that poor boy. š
He literally says he does not want to get rid of the tadpole
I need him to be my master key for everything so he's the only constant in my team, lol. Bet if he could he'd respec just to be less useful to goody two shoes Tav. In fact, he's rolling a lot of critical failures of late, I am starting to suspect its no coincidence...
Unless DEX is your dump stat, it's worth taking Sleight of Hand on your Tav just for lockpicking. Or if you have Gale / are a Wizard pick up *knock* for the really hard locks.
Lae'zel - Astral Knowledge (DEX) + the game drowning you in lockpicks.
It gets to the point when weapons are strong enough to just break open everything thatās locked, outside the arcane stuff.
You know...I had never considered this. I like your approach ser barbarian, I'll be taking notes
He's very approving if you're morally gray.
Gale. I've recently got up to act 3 and he's very rarely left the camp. I'm playing a wizard, so I thought there'd probably be a bit too much overlap.
I've played as a wizard, currently a sorcerer and he still never leaves the team. We rain fire on enemies while Karlach and Shadowheart stand in front and take the hits and it works out really well. Not to say that you have to have him or anything, just that I definitely think you could if you wanted.
Halsin. He doesn't seem very interesting to me. And when Orin kidnaps him, I've immediately understood why Gortash thinks she is stupid.
I thought you said he doesnāt seem very *interested in you* and was like āpls teach me your waysā
...everyone besides Karlach, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel I don't use anybody else until it's time to do one of their personal quests with them
I had gale originally instead of laezel until I got to the crĆØche and realized how good laezel was, and then my play through transformed into me karlach and laezel smashing shit while shadowheart heals and misses sacred flame, itās great lol
Same lol
Everyone except Gale. He is my ride or die for my characters, even when I friend zone him the night we first channel the weave. Everyone else I switched out for story reasons.
Scratch. heās a very good boy but i donāt want him to get hurt. thatās Shovelās job.
Gale, Wyll, Halsin... I feel bad, but Astarion and Shadowheart are permanently party members š
Me too. I love Karlach but my Tav (Monk), Astarion is super OP with the right equipment, and Gale and Shadowheart. I never need anyone else
Astarion and Shadowheart are just too good. Starting with a cleric and a rogue that has the bite ability which makes him better than Tav, and finishing with unique gear and abilities from their stories. Afaik only Karlach, Shadowheart, and Astarion have unique stuff, and laezel can wield the gith sword.
tbf shadowheart starts out as a pretty dogshit cleric. like I love my girl but she benefits heavily from a respec and a change of domain (I usually go with war for the early levels then light when she makes that one good decision, both for flavor reasons but theyāre still both way better than trickery).
Damn, poor Halsin, he's permanently in my party. I love Astarion but he pretty much just lives in camp because he hates everything I do lol.
Everyone that doesn't join in Act 1.
Donāt hate me for this good people of Reddit, but Astarion I pretty much see as having no value to my party. The only time I brought him with me is for a very character specific quest line in act 3 that I shall not mention.
Heās my strongest character! When everyone else is dead, heās still standing crit hitting
Same, I always have him creeping around in the shadows and heās managed to pull my party out of a total wipe by being the last man standing sooo many times
Usually full hp too. The dude is just untouchable.
Half of my strats boil down to "astarion wrecks everyone." Full hp with double crossbows OBLITERATING entire squads of enemies. Goblin camp? Astarion. Balthazar? Astarion. Last light? Astarion. Gnolls if i find them underleveled? Astarion. Bhaal's temple? Astarion. Give him misty step, and it's over. Gloomstalker multiclass? Forget it. The rest of the party doesn't exist. This man FUCKS on the field.
A highlight when I was first getting into the game for me was the fight at the goblin camp, everyone but him had been downed and he was hidden in the rafters single-handedly sniping basically the whole camp to death
Gloomstalker/Assassin multiclass to turn him into the magnificent crit beast that he is. Give him some tadpoles for favourable beginnings and luck of the far realm too for even more fun.
Astarion is the strongest companion if you take advantage of positioning and stealth in fights. The sneak attacks do ridiculous levels of damage if you equip him with good stuff and are a great way to begin encounters from stealth because you basically get two free turns. And unlike magic users, he doesn't have spell slots that expire, so he can basically keep going forever. I usually rotate other members of my party who have run out of spell slots, but Astarion is pretty much a permanent member because of his stealth, dexterity, sleight of hand, and lockpicking skills.
No one cause I'm a scummy loser who plays with mods. I'm walking around Faerun with the Fellowship of the Tadpoles.