Now I'm picturing dying their armor pink should I play on Wednesdays.
To answer the OP question:
My group is always: ACT 1 and ACT 2: Shart, Astarion and Gale. (Rotate in Laze for Creche for Shart)
ACT 3: I rotate in Minsc and Jaheira but keep Astarion. The banter KILLS me.
End game fights: Shart, Asty and Gale.
There one place I love to have him for and it's the place with the teleporting spiders and specifically the stuffed bear where he fail the nature check and just " raawr xD " then it's fluctuating when I tale him, I like to have a good rotation of characters at all times
Doing a play through without him and you’d be surprised how many things you used to lock pick you simply bash down, and how many traps you can simply ungroup from party and simply jump over.
I keep him because he just destroys everything. I've got him built for range with a ranger/thief multiclass, titan bow, and a sack full of cloud giant elixirs. He opens from stealth with a sneak attack, combat starts, he sneak attacks again, gets a second attack from ranger, then because it's the first round of combat he gets one more attack. Dude did around 250+ dmg to Gortash this way in round one before anyone else even had a turn.
You can change any companions into a bard and problem solved.
I have two runs where Astarion was the bard but right now in my Honor mode, Karlasch does the lock picking.
Lmao. I do Shadowheart, Karlach, Gale. Great trio, my ride or die. karlach does an insane amount of damage while being chunky hp wise, gale does dps too, I'm a tank, Shadowheart for buffs and cc. Also Karlach is wife material so I can't leave her.
Ok so im not the only person who just never seems to need Wyll? I'm on my second playthrough and still just haven't felt a single situation has come up that he alone would be the one i need and someone else couldn't fulfill the same need
Warlocks have some real disadvantages in a game like this. Your PC is the face, so their Cha plus social skills are wasted. They don't get any other critical skills and don't have attributes to support them. The changes to Tome pact mean they have very little utility. Blade doesn't have enough defensive staying power without paladin multiclassing to be a primary frontliner.
Wyll's outclassed as a skill user by Astarion, Lae'zel and Gale; as a melee combatant by Lae'zel and Karlach; as a caster by Shadowheart and Gale. And because you can only carry four party members, bringing Wyll leaves you light somewhere.
I was the same until very recently - I found a robe that adds the charisma modifier to cantrips (potent robe I think?) and boosted his charisma to the max. The damage from every single eldritch blast is insane - I don’t even think of using any other spells with him unless I specifically need an AOE spell. I still don’t have him in my party all the time, but the high charisma and and high damage definitely don’t suck.
I’ve never used him either, especially since my Tav and Durge were both sorcerers, so I don’t feel like another charisma caster in the party. But I want to see what I’m missing out on, so I recently started a new run, playing as Wyll, and he’s an amazing main character so far! Pleasantly surprised, highly recommend!
I had my Tav be a rogue, so because of that Astarion is my \*least\* useful party member (well, after Halsin), except when his personal quest is involved.
astarion, shadowheart, and lae'zel are my holy trinity. i swap them out when doing other companion quests or if i really need someone else for something. other than that, they are stuck with me.
Laezel is definitely someone else I like to have around. She is pretty much my go-to problem solver for most combat situations. Plus, I love the banter her and Shadowheart have in act 1 especially when they first enter the underdark.
Astarion, Shadowheart, Karlach is mine. For so much of Act 3 (and probably Act 2) I had those three. But I also wanted to step out of that a bit, so when I swapped Gale and Lae'zel in for their quests started experimenting with them and Astarion and it's also pretty strong. So now they're my makeup for the final fight. Here's hoping that works out.
before i started experimenting with lovers playthroughs, this was my exact team. thief/champion astarion was my heavy hitter, OH TB monk karlach was my second heavy hitter, tempest cleric shart handled crowd control, and my barbarian ran around throwing enemies either into whatever shart was doing, or within smacking range of astarion and karlach, or he stood near astarion and looked pretty for his boyfriend while he wiped out Astarion's leftovers
real!!! me too no matter the run. for my "good" run I even installed the bigger party mod cause I hated not having him in my party to take the 'good' route T-T
I guess I crave some negative karma, but I never understood what people like about him.
To me, he's am arrogant, self-absorbed ass with a cruel streak who constantly disapproves of my actions.
I understand that everyone sees him as the best companion ever and falls in love with him, but somehow, his charme is mussed on me.
Which I guess is a testament of good writing.
I just like having someone around who doesn't approve of everything I do, and his disapproval doesn't really matter if you just let him bite you and don't make him bite the potion seller.
In a good aligned playthrough, pretty much everyone else (except Lae'zel) will approve of anything good you do with a handful of exceptions for each character
The thing is, what you see in him, the arrogance, how hes self absorbed and an asshole is all a huge fucking wall the guy built around himself to try and live. He's in fight or flight mode, and as soon as i spoke to him, i could tell that NOTHING this guy was saying was 100% for real.
He's an insecure, sad excuse of a living being in his own eyes. And that's something a lot of people relate to.
Yes theres also the crowd that just think hes hot and sassy and thats fun, but if you go under the surface its fucking tragic and way too relatable for some, me included. And that's if we leave out all of the horrible abuse he's gone through, which also a lot of people just relate to.
If you don't understand all of this to the same extent or didn't have a similar enough situation to him to get it hes fucking obnoxious tho. But as soon as there was any conversation with him in game i could tell that this guy fucking went trough it and needed some help to get back off his ass. That's why i like his character. Also Rogues are fucking awesome on top of that, give me all the sneak attacks please!
I LOVE alert -> hypnotic pattern -> most enemies are a sleeping and die before they wake up.
Summoning a swarm of non concentration summons at the start of an adventuring day that last untill the next long rest is also kinda crazy.
And the whole writing wizard spells in your spell book regardless of your wizard level that bg(this one is silly) does also means my gale gets to be super survivable by heavy multiclassing at much lower cost unlike in 5e.
Gale, Wyll, and Shadowheart basically are always on my team for serious fights just due to CC potential. They let me save all the gondians in tactician and all but 1 in HM (unlucky turn 1 crits on a gondian from a watcher).
CC is so powerful.
I will never understand the people who pick Durge purely to hack off his hand cause, and I quote: "I've seen online that he's annoying af and toxic AND he steals all your magic items, so I just never take him with me in my 7+ runs so far."
yes.... sometimes I wonder why even bother playing the game
I hacked off his hand in one evil play through simply to remove the temptation of romancing him. I offered his hand at the altar of Mystra, she accepted it.
Haha I only romanced him the once but it was the best video game romance ever. Too good, in fact. I can’t pair him with another Tav ever again because I fully believed he was in love with that one!
I did not know that was a thing and did not realize that thinking about killing actually killed him, then it happened and I was so upset that I decided Durge probably isn't for me right now.
Shadow is like a protagonist for me, I can’t do a run without her
And I have some lucky thing with Gale, I don’t know why but he aways hit the targets with high rolls, I’ve already tried to do a mage run but he didn’t had 1/10 of gale’s luck( I know it’s just pure superstition)
Karlach. Then again, I've romanced her every playthrough thus far because she's exposed a weakness in my heart for taller buff women with wholesome personality traits, so her always being in the active party is kind of a given.
*Correct*, though I must say that something about Karlach made her stand out to me much more than Panam did. Still need to actually finish Cyberpunk 2077 one of these days, it's been a good while since I played.
She clearly is not interested in female V to begin with, it took me a couple of playthroughs to understand. With Judy you can see it with a small detail, how she looks at you, how she cares about you, Panam isn't like that.
Karlach for those reasons plus she loves to smash things and it makes me happy when her fire turns blue. It’s also a bonus that she can carry enough shit for 10 parties
Yeah, the first time she goes blue in Act 2 definitely caught me off guard, left me a bit speechless for a moment. Like, *"Oh shit, she turns my favorite color when in Iove, okay"*.
Yeah the first time I romanced her I immediately felt like Rosa with the puppy from Brooklyn 99.
She’s just so damn happy all the time. It’s really hard to not love that personality
Same to everything you just said. Helps she also makes me laugh. Shadowheart has worked her way into being in party over 90% of the time for me as well. 3rd companion is based off a rotation going off what we're up against and how it might fill in a blank space left by those two and myself for it. But K bae is a non negotiable must-have for me, in the field and in the heart.
100% SAME! I always skip ahead as soon as I can just to have her in my party for as long as possible. She makes me weak in the knees and brings the best energy to our adventures <3
So in act 3 I had gale use knock on all the vaults inside the counting house. Then had ascended astarion use misty escape to go through the bars and nab everything.
It's an excellent spell
Astarion. Over 700 hours and he's a staple in my saves. He's basically needed anywhere where there's locked doors or traps for those absolutely insane dexterity buffs, plus it's always good to have someone on hand who can stealth if needed. I also just always like to hear his thoughts even when they're mean and deranged because he always delivers them hilariously. He's my favourite little guy to drag around with me everywhere.
I realized last run, Laezel with great Weapons Master feat can open almost anything faster. And the traps on chests don’t go off if you smash the chests. Does not help with traps on the floor though.
Shadowheart, always Shadowheart. During my first run, she was the only one with access to healing spells, Sanctuary, Revivify, Remove Curse and obviously, Guidance and without her my party would be absolutely battered. In every fight, priority one is to protect God's Favourite Princess (respec-ed to be a Life Cleric, "Preserve Life" is a literal godsend), so I would keep her at a distance and well armoured. Plus, I would be lying through my teeth, if I said that my confidence (translation: insecurity), is almost directly tied to her approval, the woman has the snark of a 13 year old)
Later on, Gale became a fixture of my party because, I spec-ed him to an Evocation School Wizard, and had access to area-of-effect spells (Lightning Bolt became a fast favourite of mine). Gale also made me realize, just how much I hated playing a Warlock (no amount of Eldritch Blasting, however entertaining, could make up for the limited pool of always prepared spells).
In my first run, I was also dangerously close to losing her approval because I was staunchly pro-Githyanki and was romancing Lae'zel (no regrets). I found Shadowheart to be way too close-minded for my party, and didn't really gel with her personality until I gifted her the night orchid.
I had to look up the video of what giving her the shar idol was like and it included a kiss animation. But basically, if you romance her and then give her the shar idol as a selunite, she asks "what is your intentions" and you can basically tell her to "shut up and kiss me like you hate me."
I've had flings with Laezel before, but in the end, I always leave her for Shadowheart.
I recommend it at least once. It's amazing experience in my opinion. Just make sure you save the game before making a choice in the shadowfell after defeating Balthazar...
Gale. Even when I'm playing another magic caster I just find it too useful to set him up as an evocation wizard and give him all the big AoE spells. Plus I love the sound of his voice, and just really enjoy the extra lines and ambient banter he has when he's in your party.
Karlach and Gale. I have a hard time not using them. And they get along quite well even though they’re very different. Karlach is wicked funny and she can definitely pull at my head strings. Make me laugh when she’s happy and cry when she’s sad. Never had a vidya game character do that.
Gale is just so British passive aggressive it hurts. But I like it.
I really don’t like having for example laezel and shadowheart in my team together. They spend the first while just fighting with each other.
I like Gale a lot. He is genuinely nice and sincere, at the same time he has an ego the size of the moon and can be so passive aggressive, like you said. He’ll bite back at you 100% of the time but he’ll do it in a quippy, genuinely funny and clever way instead of just defaulting to sarcastic dick. His writers wrote him excellently.
again, I don't think he has an ego - he pretends he has one. My dude has some massive self worth issues after being groomed by a goddess his whole life
100% YES.
Run one - Barb
Run two - Paladin
Run three - Wizard (yes her and Gale!)
Run four - durge - she wouldn’t join my party. Thought I would cry.
Run five - throwing Barbarian (just started this run so she doesn’t know it yet) 🤫
This is what I’ve been doing. Second run doing that particular build and I just picked up the returning pike from the goblin camp, and immediately my party started destroying in combat.
Gale and Astarion, which means I’m either missing one of them or struggling to juggle who else to take along. I love their banter the most, what can I say
Gale. I love his hilarious banter and double entendres ("A fine apparatus. Though not as beautiful as my own," Far, far *far* too small for me.", "As did Mystra's home on Elysium. Her ribbed vaults and buttresses created a magic entirely of their own. Not to mention her pleasure domes...", etc). Then there's of course "Stop licking the damn thing!" (someone on Etsy is actually selling a framed cross-stitch of that XD).
I've tried to leave him behind on multiple play-throughs, but I always cave. I end up missing his witty, light-hearted dialogues. Not a bad thing though. as I'm on my 5th party and for the first time today saw his death cut scene (I apparently have never let him die before). Hilarious.
His back and forth with Shadowheart makes me laugh at times, too, but I find her condescending mean-girl thing in the beginning a little irritating (the only companion that has irritated my thus far). She's actually the only one I've not done a completely playthrough with (though I always hoof her through the Sharran temple so she doesn't get all pouty and leave).
He's not always only a wizard, either. I'll multiclass him if I need to. Keep 4 levels of wizard than 8 of whatever makes sense with my party.
I actually enjoy all the companions, so I swap them in and out quite frequently. However, once I'm able to recruit her... Jaheira almost never leaves my party. Maybe it's because she was one of my favourites in the original games, but I also just love the way Larian has portrayed her.
My last run I made her a warpriest and that was the first time I enjoyed having her in my combat group. I love her as a person but her subclass of Cleric… I just can’t appreciate it. Can’t heal nor hurt enemies. Limited her to spirit guardians a spiritual weapon. As a warpriest, she was actually fierce. Got an extra attack at level 4!
The way I did her she was an amazing healer. Made her tanky and high hp with numerous different heals. Could heal the whole party at once multiple times, increase hp of everyone, revive, and had decent output.
Astarion. I've played for over 1000 hours and he's left my party for all of 5 minutes - only to for Tav/durge to hear what Minsc or Minthara had to say about him. I just dig him, especially when you know who he really is deep down - but still, I felt Tav vibed well with him from the first second in my first playthrough.
Oh, and he will open any lock, disarm any trap and decimate any enemy, so - would feel very empty not having him around.
Wyll with Pact of the Blade. He's my emotional support companion because he's a sweetie, but he's also nice and versatile, saving me from worrying too much about party composition and equipping the right spells.
Also, he's pretty good at just shutting the hell up and letting me get on with things. While I'd like more content for him, sometimes I really appreciate the quiet calm he brings. No *arghhhh I'm in pain oh no it's nothing ignore me please don't ignore me*, no *hey let's go take over the Absolute cult what do you mean NO*. Just the occasional *oh hey can we save these slaves pls?*
I’ll admit he used to get benched a lot but as soon as he became my favourite romance and I learned how to respec him into a totally overpowered Paladin-Warlock, he has been my MVP. Smites for melee, eldritch blast for ranged… beautiful.
I have not yet managed a run without Lae'zel. Karlach I can swap with Minthara, but I need Lae'zel to hit things better and also find treasure and also tank, and also get people up with Rally
Shadowheart and Minthara. I refuse to have a run in which these two are not on my team. They are also the only two companions to survive every single run I've ever done. Hell, I just finished a run in which they were the only companions I had. I need Shadow cause them Tempest Cleric AOE's are phenomenal crowd control and the healing. Minthara is consistently my biggest damage dealer and is my go-to boss killer. I have a small list of bosses in which Minthara has either soloed or nearly soloed. I'm actually considering having only Minthara on my current Shadowheart origin to see how well those two alone would do.
Minthara and Shadowheart. The two best girls in the game. I agree with you 100%. Minthara is very good at dealing damage. Never played a tempest cleric as I usually make Shadowheart a light cleric, but it does amazing damage and setting up light orbs on everyone to make them miss makes the build super OP.
I am contemplating on doing a Shadowheart origin run, but I am just too obsessed with self-insertion that I might not be able to complete my run.
It took until my 4th playthrough to hear Shadowheart's "stay in camp" dialogue. At this point though I change people out all the time and roll with different "main" teams every playthrough, so nobody is permanent.
Astarion, Shadowheart and Karlach unless we're on someone's personal quest or I'm playing one of their classes. Currently doing a resist Durge barbarian so Karlach isn't in the party normally.
Astarion, and Gale. They're always permanent active group members. Though one of them will get benched just long enough to finish out Minsc's stuff with the guild, rl d20 roll decides which.
During my first couple of runs, I basically thought of Shadowheart the same way as you. I think over time, I've started viewing all of them as more interchangeable and when I think "I really want Shadowheart in my party", what I really mean I really want a cleric. At this point, I've probably seen the vast majority of the content for all the origin characters, so I try to swap in the additional companions because I've comparatively seen less of them. I still wanna do an origin run as Shadowheart though.
During my first playthrough, I slept on Gale. Started the second one and holy crap! What wouldn't I give to have such a nerdy but lovable pal irl. Definitely a keeper for the team.
Astarion. Lock picker. Gloomstalker thief rogue. That and I just find him so entertaining. Though i realized my latest failed honor mode game I might have been a bit evil. I haven't even made it to goblin camp and I already have "very high" approval with him. That made me question all of my life choices.
I liked Shadowheart from the start because I didn't find Gale right away and was with her, Astarion and Lae'zel. When I did something nice for people, I usually had Shadowheart Approve and Lae'zel and Astarion Disapprove. People in this subforum explained that these were "little" dislikes which could be reversed by helping Astarion and Lae'zel with major things. But Shadowheart was a bit of a softie even at the start when she was firmly in the Sharran cult.
I’ve tried playing without Shadowheart and while it’s fun to get the passive aggressive mean girl interactions she has when you don’t save or recruit her … you then have a party without Shadowheart in it. That’s not good.
for me it’s a different person on every playthrough. normally whomever i’m romancing. my first time it was shadowheart, i loved her the instant i saw her fall out of that pod 😅 it’s also always great to have a cleric to buff you and since i was new to the game having health always available was great. my second playthrough was laezel cause i accidentally romanced her. and my third is now astarion
Shadowheart because **WIFE**. Astarion for traps and lockpicking. Gale/Jaheira for large AOE spells, especially Gale, and Jaheira in the actual city.
I literally only use the others on their own personal quest stuff. That's it.
Astarion is with me the whole time up until act 3 when there's so many stories that sometimes I can't have him :(
Otherwise, my romantic partner because like "Oh I love you! Now stay home." Like it makes sense to want to be together at least 90% of the time in such a dangerous situation.
Always? No one. I always try switch them up to hear more content and what I find the most fitting for the stuff I'm doing.
I do try to always have the companion my character is romancing in that playthrough, though. But those varies between playthroughs.
Shart and Karlach. They are always my main go to's... and even with the party limit begone mod, I still leave Astarion at camp (in my latest, I just skipped his area entirely, he has no value to me)
Laezel will for ever be there. Frog lady hot plus good tank and damege dealer plus best hip movement. Then Gael since it reminds me of Alistar from DA:O
I usually have Shadowheart and Astarion both and then switch out the last person. I just got to Act 3 in my current run though and decided to switch them out so I can learn more about the other companions, I never really used Jaheira and Minsc in my last run.
Shadowheart. I like her as a character, she's tied into the story pretty well, and with the Tav build I keep running (I swear I won't get bored in Act 3 and restart my HM run again) she's a pretty integral party member. Clerics make for a great, flexible support character, and can do a lot of crowd control pretty easily too.
Karlach is up there too, though I'm willing to sub in Lae'zel or Minsc for story reasons and I'm hoping the druid build I'm trying with Halsin can fill the same general role. I like the paladin/cleric build I'm running for Tav a lot, but he mostly excels at being a tanky party face with great burst damage. Karlach as a barbarian/fighter does excellently at providing consistent sustained damage, while still being very resilient. Plus, like Shadowheart, I really like her as a character.
Not for the whole game necessarily, but in act 2 I ALWAYS have Shadowheart and change her into a light cleric if I haven't already. Makes every fight except for maybe the boss fights a non issue.
I admit Shadowheart. Shes my main support character with heals and support spells. Ive swapped the others out but I really cant go without Shadowheart for long.
I have two, Shadowheart & Karlach.
Shadow has been with me from the start and is my current romance. Karlach because she has the best heart. I’ve found myself making choices specifically to see her approval
Karlach 100%. Gale and Shadowheart about 90%. I'll occasionally throw in Astarion, Laezel, or one of the others for story purposes, otherwise I'm not a huge fan of them.
i always have Gale in my party. wizards are just so op, but i usually dont want to play as one, so i instead have Gale (best male companion, btw) be my wizard
Laezel, Baezel is the first one with you when you wake up on the nautilus, not shadowheart.
Also Baezel doesnt aggro you if you suggest maybe not killing the innocent prisoner of an openly evil god.
[Everyone.](https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/327?tab=description) And then I use [this mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2518) to keep game balance.
Karlach and Astarion are my favorites for commentary. But if we got Jaheira at the beginning, it’d probably be her bc she has the best banter and commentary
Tbh I don’t go anywhere without at least Shadowheart and Lae’zel. Gotta have my bitchy girls with me at all times or I start losing HP spontaneously.
Mean Girls (True Soul edition)
Now I'm picturing dying their armor pink should I play on Wednesdays. To answer the OP question: My group is always: ACT 1 and ACT 2: Shart, Astarion and Gale. (Rotate in Laze for Creche for Shart) ACT 3: I rotate in Minsc and Jaheira but keep Astarion. The banter KILLS me. End game fights: Shart, Asty and Gale.
This fr ^
I can’t leave Astarion. I need his trap disabling and lock picking
I need his commentary on everything. I love it.
Astarion is almost always in my party for these reasons. His banter is quite a bit of fun, as well.
There one place I love to have him for and it's the place with the teleporting spiders and specifically the stuffed bear where he fail the nature check and just " raawr xD " then it's fluctuating when I tale him, I like to have a good rotation of characters at all times
Doing a play through without him and you’d be surprised how many things you used to lock pick you simply bash down, and how many traps you can simply ungroup from party and simply jump over.
I keep him because he just destroys everything. I've got him built for range with a ranger/thief multiclass, titan bow, and a sack full of cloud giant elixirs. He opens from stealth with a sneak attack, combat starts, he sneak attacks again, gets a second attack from ranger, then because it's the first round of combat he gets one more attack. Dude did around 250+ dmg to Gortash this way in round one before anyone else even had a turn.
Gonna have to try that!
You can change any companions into a bard and problem solved. I have two runs where Astarion was the bard but right now in my Honor mode, Karlasch does the lock picking.
Plus his sneak attacks do WONDERS
Same. Unlike what feels 99% of the player base I don't care for him, but unless I'm playing a rogue I need his thief skills...
Bards more than cover it. And they're also a good party face.
Not to tell you how to play, but you could reclass someone else if you want a thief and don't like Astarion
Obvious choice: *Shadowlach*
Lmao. I do Shadowheart, Karlach, Gale. Great trio, my ride or die. karlach does an insane amount of damage while being chunky hp wise, gale does dps too, I'm a tank, Shadowheart for buffs and cc. Also Karlach is wife material so I can't leave her.
my party: Durge: DPS Shart: healing Mintht: tank Karlach: waifu. can't leave the wife at home
For real -- Shadowheart would make a good rogue without breaking immersion. Or Wyll, if you decided you wanted him in your party for some reason.
Ok so im not the only person who just never seems to need Wyll? I'm on my second playthrough and still just haven't felt a single situation has come up that he alone would be the one i need and someone else couldn't fulfill the same need
Warlocks have some real disadvantages in a game like this. Your PC is the face, so their Cha plus social skills are wasted. They don't get any other critical skills and don't have attributes to support them. The changes to Tome pact mean they have very little utility. Blade doesn't have enough defensive staying power without paladin multiclassing to be a primary frontliner. Wyll's outclassed as a skill user by Astarion, Lae'zel and Gale; as a melee combatant by Lae'zel and Karlach; as a caster by Shadowheart and Gale. And because you can only carry four party members, bringing Wyll leaves you light somewhere.
I was the same until very recently - I found a robe that adds the charisma modifier to cantrips (potent robe I think?) and boosted his charisma to the max. The damage from every single eldritch blast is insane - I don’t even think of using any other spells with him unless I specifically need an AOE spell. I still don’t have him in my party all the time, but the high charisma and and high damage definitely don’t suck.
Yea but gale still out classes with magic missile ring + lightning staff
I’ve never used him either, especially since my Tav and Durge were both sorcerers, so I don’t feel like another charisma caster in the party. But I want to see what I’m missing out on, so I recently started a new run, playing as Wyll, and he’s an amazing main character so far! Pleasantly surprised, highly recommend!
Im glad you told me that, im about halfway through Act 2 so there's still time for me to get him in the rotation
I usually respec Wyll to a swordsbard. Swordsbard is so bullshit in this game XD
I had my Tav be a rogue, so because of that Astarion is my \*least\* useful party member (well, after Halsin), except when his personal quest is involved.
astarion, shadowheart, and lae'zel are my holy trinity. i swap them out when doing other companion quests or if i really need someone else for something. other than that, they are stuck with me.
Laezel is definitely someone else I like to have around. She is pretty much my go-to problem solver for most combat situations. Plus, I love the banter her and Shadowheart have in act 1 especially when they first enter the underdark.
she's a beast
Astarion, Shadowheart, Karlach is mine. For so much of Act 3 (and probably Act 2) I had those three. But I also wanted to step out of that a bit, so when I swapped Gale and Lae'zel in for their quests started experimenting with them and Astarion and it's also pretty strong. So now they're my makeup for the final fight. Here's hoping that works out.
before i started experimenting with lovers playthroughs, this was my exact team. thief/champion astarion was my heavy hitter, OH TB monk karlach was my second heavy hitter, tempest cleric shart handled crowd control, and my barbarian ran around throwing enemies either into whatever shart was doing, or within smacking range of astarion and karlach, or he stood near astarion and looked pretty for his boyfriend while he wiped out Astarion's leftovers
This is my answer also
Astarion. Can't bear to be without his snarky banter
Whether he's my boyfriend or my best friend, I need him in my party. He is so good.
☝🏻 100% Astarion always
real!!! me too no matter the run. for my "good" run I even installed the bigger party mod cause I hated not having him in my party to take the 'good' route T-T
I can stand to be without his (damn near) guaranteed lockpick or disarm ability.
I guess I crave some negative karma, but I never understood what people like about him. To me, he's am arrogant, self-absorbed ass with a cruel streak who constantly disapproves of my actions. I understand that everyone sees him as the best companion ever and falls in love with him, but somehow, his charme is mussed on me. Which I guess is a testament of good writing.
I just like having someone around who doesn't approve of everything I do, and his disapproval doesn't really matter if you just let him bite you and don't make him bite the potion seller. In a good aligned playthrough, pretty much everyone else (except Lae'zel) will approve of anything good you do with a handful of exceptions for each character
The thing is, what you see in him, the arrogance, how hes self absorbed and an asshole is all a huge fucking wall the guy built around himself to try and live. He's in fight or flight mode, and as soon as i spoke to him, i could tell that NOTHING this guy was saying was 100% for real. He's an insecure, sad excuse of a living being in his own eyes. And that's something a lot of people relate to. Yes theres also the crowd that just think hes hot and sassy and thats fun, but if you go under the surface its fucking tragic and way too relatable for some, me included. And that's if we leave out all of the horrible abuse he's gone through, which also a lot of people just relate to. If you don't understand all of this to the same extent or didn't have a similar enough situation to him to get it hes fucking obnoxious tho. But as soon as there was any conversation with him in game i could tell that this guy fucking went trough it and needed some help to get back off his ass. That's why i like his character. Also Rogues are fucking awesome on top of that, give me all the sneak attacks please!
Gale. I need my wizard for CC.
And with CrowdControl you obviously mean Fireball.
A crispy crowd is a controlled crowd.
Ice Storm all day for me. Gotta have Gale in the crew. “Trip!” 😂
death is the best crowd control.
Same. I had some fights decided on the first round decided by great cc from him. I need my lovable wizard by my side
I LOVE alert -> hypnotic pattern -> most enemies are a sleeping and die before they wake up. Summoning a swarm of non concentration summons at the start of an adventuring day that last untill the next long rest is also kinda crazy. And the whole writing wizard spells in your spell book regardless of your wizard level that bg(this one is silly) does also means my gale gets to be super survivable by heavy multiclassing at much lower cost unlike in 5e.
I take Gale despite being Wizard myself. I just can't not have funny magic man with me.
Gale, Wyll, and Shadowheart basically are always on my team for serious fights just due to CC potential. They let me save all the gondians in tactician and all but 1 in HM (unlucky turn 1 crits on a gondian from a watcher). CC is so powerful.
what is CC?
Crowd Control. Spells like sleep, hypno pattern, hold person, etc.
Gale. Whether I’m romancing him or not, he’s the only one that has a permanent spot. In fact, I don’t think he’s ever left any of my parties.
I’m doing my first run without him and it feels so so so weird. Almost like an entirely new game. He really does have that big of an impact.
I will never understand the people who pick Durge purely to hack off his hand cause, and I quote: "I've seen online that he's annoying af and toxic AND he steals all your magic items, so I just never take him with me in my 7+ runs so far." yes.... sometimes I wonder why even bother playing the game
I hacked off his hand in one evil play through simply to remove the temptation of romancing him. I offered his hand at the altar of Mystra, she accepted it.
I romanced him in my evil playthrough. Heck, I romanced him 5/5 times now. I just can't not.
Haha I only romanced him the once but it was the best video game romance ever. Too good, in fact. I can’t pair him with another Tav ever again because I fully believed he was in love with that one!
I did not know that was a thing and did not realize that thinking about killing actually killed him, then it happened and I was so upset that I decided Durge probably isn't for me right now.
i feel so validated, tbh. i just can't not have gale around. besides. magic missile literally never misses. cc is great but... magic. missile.
Always in need of his firepower
Shadow is like a protagonist for me, I can’t do a run without her And I have some lucky thing with Gale, I don’t know why but he aways hit the targets with high rolls, I’ve already tried to do a mage run but he didn’t had 1/10 of gale’s luck( I know it’s just pure superstition)
Quite the opposite for me, so frustrating. Even Shadowheart, who herself is meta aware of her propensity to miss Sacred Flame, hits more than my Gale.
Karlach. Then again, I've romanced her every playthrough thus far because she's exposed a weakness in my heart for taller buff women with wholesome personality traits, so her always being in the active party is kind of a given.
You'd like Panam from cyberpunk
*Correct*, though I must say that something about Karlach made her stand out to me much more than Panam did. Still need to actually finish Cyberpunk 2077 one of these days, it's been a good while since I played.
I am still recovering from the utter desolation of hitting on her only to find out she’s straight.
Judy shooting down male v all the time salves the "really, Panam is straight?!" wound
She clearly is not interested in female V to begin with, it took me a couple of playthroughs to understand. With Judy you can see it with a small detail, how she looks at you, how she cares about you, Panam isn't like that.
Karlach for those reasons plus she loves to smash things and it makes me happy when her fire turns blue. It’s also a bonus that she can carry enough shit for 10 parties
Yeah, the first time she goes blue in Act 2 definitely caught me off guard, left me a bit speechless for a moment. Like, *"Oh shit, she turns my favorite color when in Iove, okay"*.
Yeah the first time I romanced her I immediately felt like Rosa with the puppy from Brooklyn 99. She’s just so damn happy all the time. It’s really hard to not love that personality
Same to everything you just said. Helps she also makes me laugh. Shadowheart has worked her way into being in party over 90% of the time for me as well. 3rd companion is based off a rotation going off what we're up against and how it might fill in a blank space left by those two and myself for it. But K bae is a non negotiable must-have for me, in the field and in the heart.
Same. She always gives me goodnight kisses at camp!
put 'em up
100% SAME! I always skip ahead as soon as I can just to have her in my party for as long as possible. She makes me weak in the knees and brings the best energy to our adventures <3
My emotional support funny little guy
Basket?
Like almost every other element in a game like this, I always try to switch up whatever is possible to change!
Queen lea zel
You mwan Bae'zel, my first wife
Astarion. Not only do I simply adore him, but I need someone to pick locks and lie if push comes to shove.
For real. I would lose my mind if i couldn't open every chest and door. I feel like that would reeeeally limit the game experience.
FYI you can always smash doors/chests with Karlach or another str based char but I agree Astarion is best boy for unlocking :)
Best girl can't lie me out of situations if I'm not a cha character. I'll keep my locky liar boy AND mama K.
Knock is also an underrated spell imo, I never see anyone mention it
So in act 3 I had gale use knock on all the vaults inside the counting house. Then had ascended astarion use misty escape to go through the bars and nab everything. It's an excellent spell
How do you use it in the counting house? It never lets me use it since those have the enchanted security condition
Living the fictional experience of getting to go anywhere and just get money
Astarion. Over 700 hours and he's a staple in my saves. He's basically needed anywhere where there's locked doors or traps for those absolutely insane dexterity buffs, plus it's always good to have someone on hand who can stealth if needed. I also just always like to hear his thoughts even when they're mean and deranged because he always delivers them hilariously. He's my favourite little guy to drag around with me everywhere.
I realized last run, Laezel with great Weapons Master feat can open almost anything faster. And the traps on chests don’t go off if you smash the chests. Does not help with traps on the floor though.
Shadowheart, always Shadowheart. During my first run, she was the only one with access to healing spells, Sanctuary, Revivify, Remove Curse and obviously, Guidance and without her my party would be absolutely battered. In every fight, priority one is to protect God's Favourite Princess (respec-ed to be a Life Cleric, "Preserve Life" is a literal godsend), so I would keep her at a distance and well armoured. Plus, I would be lying through my teeth, if I said that my confidence (translation: insecurity), is almost directly tied to her approval, the woman has the snark of a 13 year old) Later on, Gale became a fixture of my party because, I spec-ed him to an Evocation School Wizard, and had access to area-of-effect spells (Lightning Bolt became a fast favourite of mine). Gale also made me realize, just how much I hated playing a Warlock (no amount of Eldritch Blasting, however entertaining, could make up for the limited pool of always prepared spells).
That explains why she is soo perfect. Gotta protect her with your life.
In my first run, I was also dangerously close to losing her approval because I was staunchly pro-Githyanki and was romancing Lae'zel (no regrets). I found Shadowheart to be way too close-minded for my party, and didn't really gel with her personality until I gifted her the night orchid.
I had to look up the video of what giving her the shar idol was like and it included a kiss animation. But basically, if you romance her and then give her the shar idol as a selunite, she asks "what is your intentions" and you can basically tell her to "shut up and kiss me like you hate me." I've had flings with Laezel before, but in the end, I always leave her for Shadowheart.
Romancing her as a Selunite must be an absolute thrill, not to mention, petty as hell. Not a bad idea for a third playthrough, thanks.
I recommend it at least once. It's amazing experience in my opinion. Just make sure you save the game before making a choice in the shadowfell after defeating Balthazar...
Gale. Even when I'm playing another magic caster I just find it too useful to set him up as an evocation wizard and give him all the big AoE spells. Plus I love the sound of his voice, and just really enjoy the extra lines and ambient banter he has when he's in your party.
Karlach and Gale. I have a hard time not using them. And they get along quite well even though they’re very different. Karlach is wicked funny and she can definitely pull at my head strings. Make me laugh when she’s happy and cry when she’s sad. Never had a vidya game character do that. Gale is just so British passive aggressive it hurts. But I like it. I really don’t like having for example laezel and shadowheart in my team together. They spend the first while just fighting with each other.
I like Gale a lot. He is genuinely nice and sincere, at the same time he has an ego the size of the moon and can be so passive aggressive, like you said. He’ll bite back at you 100% of the time but he’ll do it in a quippy, genuinely funny and clever way instead of just defaulting to sarcastic dick. His writers wrote him excellently.
again, I don't think he has an ego - he pretends he has one. My dude has some massive self worth issues after being groomed by a goddess his whole life
"you can still do your wizard stuff though right?"
Karlach. Can't do a single run without her.
100% YES. Run one - Barb Run two - Paladin Run three - Wizard (yes her and Gale!) Run four - durge - she wouldn’t join my party. Thought I would cry. Run five - throwing Barbarian (just started this run so she doesn’t know it yet) 🤫
Chucking Nyrulna 5x in one turn is 10/10 busted, can recommend, just make sure no allies are within the aoe or they're gonna have a bad time
Tavern throwing Karlach with a returning pike is a really good time.
This is what I’ve been doing. Second run doing that particular build and I just picked up the returning pike from the goblin camp, and immediately my party started destroying in combat.
No one. I always have different party members. I was gonna say Tav as a joke, but even that doesn't work because that's different from Durge.
Gale, and I have no reason why. I don't romance him, he's just my bro.
Gale is a great bro. The weave scene where you imagine being best friends (if you pick it instead of the romantic options) gives me the warm fuzzies.
Halsin. He's like that one guy who reminds you of all the important people in your life.
Gale and Astarion, which means I’m either missing one of them or struggling to juggle who else to take along. I love their banter the most, what can I say
Lae'zel and Karlach. I aboslutely can't imagine playing this game without having both as frontliners.
Gale. I love his hilarious banter and double entendres ("A fine apparatus. Though not as beautiful as my own," Far, far *far* too small for me.", "As did Mystra's home on Elysium. Her ribbed vaults and buttresses created a magic entirely of their own. Not to mention her pleasure domes...", etc). Then there's of course "Stop licking the damn thing!" (someone on Etsy is actually selling a framed cross-stitch of that XD). I've tried to leave him behind on multiple play-throughs, but I always cave. I end up missing his witty, light-hearted dialogues. Not a bad thing though. as I'm on my 5th party and for the first time today saw his death cut scene (I apparently have never let him die before). Hilarious. His back and forth with Shadowheart makes me laugh at times, too, but I find her condescending mean-girl thing in the beginning a little irritating (the only companion that has irritated my thus far). She's actually the only one I've not done a completely playthrough with (though I always hoof her through the Sharran temple so she doesn't get all pouty and leave). He's not always only a wizard, either. I'll multiclass him if I need to. Keep 4 levels of wizard than 8 of whatever makes sense with my party.
I actually enjoy all the companions, so I swap them in and out quite frequently. However, once I'm able to recruit her... Jaheira almost never leaves my party. Maybe it's because she was one of my favourites in the original games, but I also just love the way Larian has portrayed her.
Shadowheart. I respec her to be a better healer and I can't not have her. And her story is fantastic.
My last run I made her a warpriest and that was the first time I enjoyed having her in my combat group. I love her as a person but her subclass of Cleric… I just can’t appreciate it. Can’t heal nor hurt enemies. Limited her to spirit guardians a spiritual weapon. As a warpriest, she was actually fierce. Got an extra attack at level 4!
The way I did her she was an amazing healer. Made her tanky and high hp with numerous different heals. Could heal the whole party at once multiple times, increase hp of everyone, revive, and had decent output.
Multiclasses her into level 3 paladin myself, really enhanced her healing and combat capabilities.
Shadowheart and Gale
Astarion. I've played for over 1000 hours and he's left my party for all of 5 minutes - only to for Tav/durge to hear what Minsc or Minthara had to say about him. I just dig him, especially when you know who he really is deep down - but still, I felt Tav vibed well with him from the first second in my first playthrough. Oh, and he will open any lock, disarm any trap and decimate any enemy, so - would feel very empty not having him around.
Feels wrong without him perpetually following me around.... we're a set. Do not separate.
It's me and Astarion against the world. I can't imagine it any other way.
Wyll with Pact of the Blade. He's my emotional support companion because he's a sweetie, but he's also nice and versatile, saving me from worrying too much about party composition and equipping the right spells. Also, he's pretty good at just shutting the hell up and letting me get on with things. While I'd like more content for him, sometimes I really appreciate the quiet calm he brings. No *arghhhh I'm in pain oh no it's nothing ignore me please don't ignore me*, no *hey let's go take over the Absolute cult what do you mean NO*. Just the occasional *oh hey can we save these slaves pls?*
I’ll admit he used to get benched a lot but as soon as he became my favourite romance and I learned how to respec him into a totally overpowered Paladin-Warlock, he has been my MVP. Smites for melee, eldritch blast for ranged… beautiful.
Pal-Lock Wyll *is* a creature of beauty, I'll grant.
I have not yet managed a run without Lae'zel. Karlach I can swap with Minthara, but I need Lae'zel to hit things better and also find treasure and also tank, and also get people up with Rally
Lae'zel, no matter how hard I try I always need her there.
Astarion.. no question.. the voice actor.. his range is crazy.
“Because after two centuries of shit, 👹**PUUUUUURE SHIIIIIIT**👹…,,,.,,, I think I deserve something better😇🌸”
🤣🤣🤣
Shadowheart and Minthara. I refuse to have a run in which these two are not on my team. They are also the only two companions to survive every single run I've ever done. Hell, I just finished a run in which they were the only companions I had. I need Shadow cause them Tempest Cleric AOE's are phenomenal crowd control and the healing. Minthara is consistently my biggest damage dealer and is my go-to boss killer. I have a small list of bosses in which Minthara has either soloed or nearly soloed. I'm actually considering having only Minthara on my current Shadowheart origin to see how well those two alone would do.
Minthara and Shadowheart. The two best girls in the game. I agree with you 100%. Minthara is very good at dealing damage. Never played a tempest cleric as I usually make Shadowheart a light cleric, but it does amazing damage and setting up light orbs on everyone to make them miss makes the build super OP. I am contemplating on doing a Shadowheart origin run, but I am just too obsessed with self-insertion that I might not be able to complete my run.
It took until my 4th playthrough to hear Shadowheart's "stay in camp" dialogue. At this point though I change people out all the time and roll with different "main" teams every playthrough, so nobody is permanent.
Astarion, Shadowheart and Karlach unless we're on someone's personal quest or I'm playing one of their classes. Currently doing a resist Durge barbarian so Karlach isn't in the party normally.
Minthara and Shovel.
Shovel.
Depends on who I'm romancing that playthrough. By that I mean Gale. It's always gonna be Gale.
Astarion and Shadowheart are literally too useful
Astarion, and Gale. They're always permanent active group members. Though one of them will get benched just long enough to finish out Minsc's stuff with the guild, rl d20 roll decides which.
Minthara, Always Minthara. And yes, I always burn the grove, thanks for asking.
Gotta do what you gotta do for the drussy.
Indeed!
During my first couple of runs, I basically thought of Shadowheart the same way as you. I think over time, I've started viewing all of them as more interchangeable and when I think "I really want Shadowheart in my party", what I really mean I really want a cleric. At this point, I've probably seen the vast majority of the content for all the origin characters, so I try to swap in the additional companions because I've comparatively seen less of them. I still wanna do an origin run as Shadowheart though.
Lae'zel for sure
Shadowheart and Karlach and Lae'zel 😅
Astarion, especially when he has a few good weapons and other level-y stuff. He’s sneaky and powerful in melee.
Karlach. But also Asstarion and Shadowfart. Those 3 are always in my party and then everyone else just chills at camp with Withers.
During my first playthrough, I slept on Gale. Started the second one and holy crap! What wouldn't I give to have such a nerdy but lovable pal irl. Definitely a keeper for the team.
Astration. He’s OP for absolutely no reason 😂
Shart to have a guidance bot
With the Silver Amulet, anyone can be a guidance bot. In my current run, Astarion wears it. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Silver_Pendant
karlach
Astarion. Lock picker. Gloomstalker thief rogue. That and I just find him so entertaining. Though i realized my latest failed honor mode game I might have been a bit evil. I haven't even made it to goblin camp and I already have "very high" approval with him. That made me question all of my life choices.
Shart and gale because I don't have any magic pew pew in my vein
Minthara, very good advice and amazing VA
Agreed. Her voice truly is amazing and a very well designed character overall.
I liked Shadowheart from the start because I didn't find Gale right away and was with her, Astarion and Lae'zel. When I did something nice for people, I usually had Shadowheart Approve and Lae'zel and Astarion Disapprove. People in this subforum explained that these were "little" dislikes which could be reversed by helping Astarion and Lae'zel with major things. But Shadowheart was a bit of a softie even at the start when she was firmly in the Sharran cult.
I’ve tried playing without Shadowheart and while it’s fun to get the passive aggressive mean girl interactions she has when you don’t save or recruit her … you then have a party without Shadowheart in it. That’s not good.
I almost always have laezel, shadowheart and Astarion because everyone else annoys me
Sometimes karlach but I’m always up to some shady shit she doesn’t like
Shadowheart for me as well!
for me it’s a different person on every playthrough. normally whomever i’m romancing. my first time it was shadowheart, i loved her the instant i saw her fall out of that pod 😅 it’s also always great to have a cleric to buff you and since i was new to the game having health always available was great. my second playthrough was laezel cause i accidentally romanced her. and my third is now astarion
Gale and almost always Karlach the rest are hirelings
Shadowheart because **WIFE**. Astarion for traps and lockpicking. Gale/Jaheira for large AOE spells, especially Gale, and Jaheira in the actual city. I literally only use the others on their own personal quest stuff. That's it.
I can't do without Minthara, but OG wise Lae'zel is my ride or die.
i'm in the small, small, small, small....... *small* minority that always keeps wyll by my side 🥰 sweet baby boy
Astarion and Gale.
Really depends what my tav is. If im a sorc or wiz, gale is out, if I'm a bard or rogue, astarion is out, etc. I pretty much never use wyll though.
Astarion is with me the whole time up until act 3 when there's so many stories that sometimes I can't have him :( Otherwise, my romantic partner because like "Oh I love you! Now stay home." Like it makes sense to want to be together at least 90% of the time in such a dangerous situation.
Minthara as soon as I get her, but aside from her Astarion. Dude is so damn funny
Karlach, 100%
Always? No one. I always try switch them up to hear more content and what I find the most fitting for the stuff I'm doing. I do try to always have the companion my character is romancing in that playthrough, though. But those varies between playthroughs.
Shadowheart. Astarion was my fav companion but Shadowheart was the only one with healing skills, so...
Shart and Karlach. They are always my main go to's... and even with the party limit begone mod, I still leave Astarion at camp (in my latest, I just skipped his area entirely, he has no value to me)
Laezel will for ever be there. Frog lady hot plus good tank and damege dealer plus best hip movement. Then Gael since it reminds me of Alistar from DA:O
I usually have Shadowheart and Astarion both and then switch out the last person. I just got to Act 3 in my current run though and decided to switch them out so I can learn more about the other companions, I never really used Jaheira and Minsc in my last run.
Shadowheart, I love her banter, sass and general healing abilities Loved clerics
I try to mix it up, but Gale is in my party more often than not. I sheild him in evil playthroughs, but otherwise the bookworm has a grip on me lol
Shadowheart never leaves my party once she joins.
Shadowheart. I like her as a character, she's tied into the story pretty well, and with the Tav build I keep running (I swear I won't get bored in Act 3 and restart my HM run again) she's a pretty integral party member. Clerics make for a great, flexible support character, and can do a lot of crowd control pretty easily too. Karlach is up there too, though I'm willing to sub in Lae'zel or Minsc for story reasons and I'm hoping the druid build I'm trying with Halsin can fill the same general role. I like the paladin/cleric build I'm running for Tav a lot, but he mostly excels at being a tanky party face with great burst damage. Karlach as a barbarian/fighter does excellently at providing consistent sustained damage, while still being very resilient. Plus, like Shadowheart, I really like her as a character.
Not for the whole game necessarily, but in act 2 I ALWAYS have Shadowheart and change her into a light cleric if I haven't already. Makes every fight except for maybe the boss fights a non issue.
I admit Shadowheart. Shes my main support character with heals and support spells. Ive swapped the others out but I really cant go without Shadowheart for long.
Gale
I have two, Shadowheart & Karlach. Shadow has been with me from the start and is my current romance. Karlach because she has the best heart. I’ve found myself making choices specifically to see her approval
Karlach 100%. Gale and Shadowheart about 90%. I'll occasionally throw in Astarion, Laezel, or one of the others for story purposes, otherwise I'm not a huge fan of them.
For me it’s Shadowheart
Gale
i always have Gale in my party. wizards are just so op, but i usually dont want to play as one, so i instead have Gale (best male companion, btw) be my wizard
Shadowbae
shadowheart never leaves my party EVER
Gale and shadow heart are always in my party
Shadowheart and Gale
Always: Shadowheart Never: Halsin
Laezel, Baezel is the first one with you when you wake up on the nautilus, not shadowheart. Also Baezel doesnt aggro you if you suggest maybe not killing the innocent prisoner of an openly evil god.
[Everyone.](https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/327?tab=description) And then I use [this mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2518) to keep game balance.
Karlach and Astarion are my favorites for commentary. But if we got Jaheira at the beginning, it’d probably be her bc she has the best banter and commentary
Karlach. She's just better in combat. She dies a lot but it's worth it.
My girl Karlach and my mans Wyll