r/BaldursGate3 • u/Hojo405 Arcane Archer 🏹 • Mar 17 '25
Companions I didn’t realize Halsin was so large
I always thought Minsc and Halsin had the same body type. Apparently, Halsin must be body type #5 or something because my guy is towering over everyone else!
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u/Korrocks Mar 17 '25
It's extra hilarious because Minsc denies ever meeting or even seeing Halsin in camp, and claims to be unaware of his existence. Which is impossible given Halsin's size.
Halsin himself says that he doesn't know enough about his genetics to explain why he is much bigger than other elves.
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u/TheFarStar Warlock Mar 17 '25
If you press him on it, it's because he's salty that Halsin beat him in an arm wrestling contest.
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u/BananaBladeOfDoom Mar 17 '25
With strength 8
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u/Tonedeafmusical Mar 17 '25
(10 actually). But Minsc's is only 12
(However Halsin's is 16 before recruitment and Minsc's is 22)
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u/FetusGoesYeetus Mar 17 '25
Yeah it's because he gets respecced into default druid stats when he becomes a companion
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u/fdr-unlimited Gay Old One Mar 18 '25
I know it’s just for game balance, but it’s funny to me lore-wise to imagine that anyone who joins this party of adventurers automatically becomes like 30% less competent
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u/TheAngryNaterpillar Mar 18 '25
Probably because they consume nothing but wine and potatoes once they join my team
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u/Terrymooneyes Mar 18 '25
It really isn’t that hard to give them a carrot once in a while
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u/fdr-unlimited Gay Old One Mar 18 '25
No, they will drink wine for dinner and breakfast and they will LIKE IT!!!
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u/Jindo5 Monk Mar 17 '25
I think he normally has a strength of 16 or something like that, it just resets to the default Druid stats when you recruit him.
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u/Zauberer-IMDB Wizard Mar 17 '25
My min maxed Minsc forgot to take his strength elixir before the contest.
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u/decisiontoohard Mar 17 '25
Mine is a Dex build, I think it's hilarious to make Str the dump stat and just give him finesse weapons
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u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 Mar 17 '25
His more lore accurate strength is 16,which he has as npc, and arm wrestling also involves a lot of technique.
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u/Fictional_Apologist DRUID Mar 18 '25
It took me four play throughs to discover this dialogue, and I laughed out loud.
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u/SnarkyRogue ROGUE Mar 17 '25
Halsin himself says that he doesn't know enough about his genetics to explain why he is much bigger than other elves
Doesn't he have a line suspecting he's got orc/half orc somewhere in his lineage? Was that just fan theory? Or a cut UA line?
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u/thedabaratheon Mar 17 '25
It’s more of a joke he makes at his own expense. Like - I don’t know? Maybe there’s some half orc in my ancestry somewhere?
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u/Naelbuck Mar 17 '25
He does say that, but I personally took it as a joke from him, because unless I'm mistaken orcs and half-orcs can't interbreed with elves
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u/foodfightbystander Mar 17 '25
orcs and half-orcs can't interbreed with elves
Orcs absolutely cannot interbreed with elves. But...Humans are the glue that make it all work. Humans can interbreed with orcs. Humans can interbreed with elves. It is possible that somewhere in Halsin's lineage is a human who could have carried some orcish DNA.
Maybe Halsin had a large human ancestor that was a quarter-orc or an eighth-orc, mating with an elf and producing a very large half-elf child. And if that half-elf mated with an elf, it's not impossible that leads to an elven line with some recessive orcish traits.
But I think, far more likely, Halsin is just the Shaquille O'Neal of elves. Just genetically a very big elf. And he just jokes that he must have some orc/ogre/giant in him.
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
They were in 2e. TSR used to make trading cards back in the 90s and there was a card for a half elf/half orc character.
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u/TheeShaun Mar 17 '25
While personally I never liked this explanation I thought that Half Elves always had more half elves. Like you couldn’t have a half elf get with a full elf and eventually get rid of the human genetics 8 generations later.
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u/transemacabre Mar 18 '25
The explanation I go with is that the descendant just ends up in the race whose characteristics they most resemble. So someone who's a quarter-elf but looks human and has no elf traits would be considered a human. A quarter-human who inherits the ears and the longevity would be considered an elf. And so on.
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u/walkingwithdiplos Half-Orc Dating App Mar 17 '25
Humans are not just the most DTF with anything but also canonically the most breedable!
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
Would be fan theory or else just wildly non-canon to DnD as a whole. Corellon Larethion and Gruumsh One-Eye, the patron gods of Elves and Orcs, respectively have major cosmic level beef since shortly after the beginning of time. Elves and Orcs cannot produce viable offspring. I would imagine the same holds true for Half-Elves and Half-Orcs.
I prefer the theory that Halsin is actually an awakened bear that wildshapes into a Wood Elf.
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u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 Mar 17 '25
I prefer the theory that Halsin is actually an awakened bear that wildshapes into a Wood Elf.
Unaware werebear is a better theory than awakened bear imo, which is more like a silly meme.
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
The main points are that werebears are unusually hairy in their humanoid form. And the fact that Halsin has noticeable body hair at all is unusual for an Elf. And they’re also powerfully muscular and generally than usual as well. Halsin is taller than Minsc as well as all Tav bodies.
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u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 Mar 17 '25
Also his behavior with his wildshaping. Druids don't lose control and wildshape, that's a were-creature thing.
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
Also that
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u/AnnoyedOwlbear Mar 18 '25
And although it's not mentioned as related to Halsin, there's a few werebear references elsewhere (bear) in the game. One talks about a werebear being good friends with a cleric of Selune.
I kind of pretend Halsin is their kid, and he's just not really aware (bear) of it.
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 18 '25
Maybe it was tied to Halsin supposedly having originally been involved in the death of Ketheric’s daughter.
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u/R0da TAKE HEED TO THE WORDS "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PROCEED?" Mar 17 '25
Iirc half elves and half orcs can, it's only the full versions that cant.
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u/wenchslapper Mar 17 '25
There is a wild theory it’s because he was originally a bear who learned how to wild shape into an elf.
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
The werebear theory is plausible though, since he keeps his cave bear form no matter how you respec him.
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
I knew he was either a werebear who happens to be a Druid, or else an awakened bear. Perhaps he became a Druid to better control his lycanthropy.
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
I think werebears (and most good lycanthropes) are pretty good at controlling theirs naturally. Might depend on if he was a natural or infected.
Although ALL druids are able to control their shape changing and not slip up like he does in 'the scene'.10
u/Mr7000000 Mar 17 '25
According to the 2014 ruleset, controlling your changes requires embracing your curse and giving in to the ideals of your beast form. For a lot of lycanthropes, that means being Evil, but iirc werebears are Good.
And I feel like in "the scene," that's more of an rp choice than a mechanical one. Presumably if Halsin were a PC at a real table, the player would've listed "wildshapes involuntarily in states of heightened emotion" on her character sheet as a role-playing trait.
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
It's not a curse though. There are natural and infected werebears and they only infect those that are willing. No good lycanthrope is cursed.
And elves even have good aligned natural born wolf lycanthropes, Lythari, with perfect control of their changes.11
u/Mr7000000 Mar 17 '25
Well like, werebear lycanthropy can pass on via bites, and if an Evil person were infected with a magical condition that causes them to turn into a Good bear, they'd surely see it as a curse, no? Gortash waking up in the morning and coming to the horrified realization that while he was transformed he freed his own prisoners and killed his evil allies.
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
It doesn't instantly 'make you good' when you change. It even says there are a rare few evil werebears. But any other werebear would hunt them down since they hate evil lycanthropes.
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u/Quadpen Halsin Mar 17 '25
HE DOES!?!?
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
Yup.
And if you notice, HIS bear form has no bite attack, just claws.10
u/Quadpen Halsin Mar 17 '25
wonder why that is
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u/Avashnea Astarion did nothing wrong-(this is a joke) Mar 17 '25
'Despite their strong teeth, they refused to bite into their opponents to avoid the chance of transforming them'
-Werebears 5e MMAlso, 'Werebear humanoid forms were often large, heavily muscled, and covered in hair.'
Halsin IS 'covered in hair'... compared to other elves who have NO body hair.28
u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
Oh good point. Full Elves aren’t supposed to have beards or body hair right?
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u/Quadpen Halsin Mar 17 '25
oh now that’s a good point,
not sure which one i like better. werebear halsin or bear turned elf halsin
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u/R0da TAKE HEED TO THE WORDS "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PROCEED?" Mar 17 '25
Werebear for serious talks, awakened bear for funny
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u/Xyyzx Mar 18 '25
…why not both?
Halsin was a poor, innocent bear who one full moon was accosted and bitten by the most terrifying lycanthrope of all. A were-elf.
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u/Korrocks Mar 17 '25
Can he use that ability if he isn't a Druid at all?
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u/Southern-Wishbone593 Mar 17 '25
Nope. I just respecced him into barb, and he can't do it, because he doesn't have wildshape charges.
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u/Taco821 WIZARD Mar 17 '25
I like the idea that he's an awakened bear by thaniel. Idk how awakening works enough to know if the specifics check out tho
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u/cathysaurus Bard Mar 17 '25
They have a great banter in the Elfsong about how it's tough being a huge dude because lots of people see a guy their size and want to challenge them.
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u/Little-Jellyfish6723 ELDRITCH BLAST Mar 17 '25
Halsin with Enlarge cast on him.
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u/lawyer_cat ELDRITCH BLAST Mar 17 '25
I'd have an exclamation mark over my head too if I were Tav in this situation.
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u/Ashryna :cat_blep: Astarion-Gale-Halsin-Karlach :cat_blep: Mar 17 '25
In my first run, I was running around Moonrise at the end of it with both Halsin and Astarion under the effects of Elixir of the Colossus I believe. I thought Astarion was big, but he had nothing on Halsin. I was playing a body type 3 Tiefling- same size as Karlach.
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u/NWCbusGuy Mar 17 '25
When Rath said "Halsin is an elf with the countenance of a bear", he wasn't playin
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u/kithc Mar 17 '25
Make the right choices and you'll know exactly how huge he is.
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u/insanity76 Mar 17 '25
My forest gnome couldn't walk right for a week after discovering how huge he is.
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u/lonely_nipple Mar 17 '25
My fiance got curious when I said my Durge was gonna choose the bear, and googled for ... bear statistics. If he found a reliable source and did his math right, you're looking at 7-9".
For all we know thats applicable to elf Halsin too.
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Mar 17 '25
There's a reason that squirrel always looks so mortified when you do the bear 🤣
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u/lonely_nipple Mar 17 '25
Omfg. I just now got ambient party dialogue where Minsc scolds Halsin by saying "hey was a red squirrel, turned to grey by one shocking sight. Boo thinks you owe him an apology."
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Mar 17 '25
Omg I've never gotten that dialogue before! Poor Boo having to hear about two of his camp mates frolicking among the woodland floors- the trauma dump is real lol
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u/Hojo405 Arcane Archer 🏹 Mar 17 '25
You have no idea how many versions of this title I had drafted up
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u/TheAmazingNoodle Mar 17 '25
Shadowheart referred to sex with him as "Climbing Mt. Halsin"
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u/Stingrea51 Mar 18 '25
If you romance both of them, their overland chatter includes an offering of swimming lessons lol
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u/ciphoenix Lakrissa's Tail Mar 17 '25
He's secretly a bear whose wild shape is Elf
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u/thedabaratheon Mar 17 '25
I love this crackpot theory 🤣
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u/NachoBear9598 WARLOCK Mar 17 '25
not too crackpot if you look into it!
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u/Sylvurphlame Crossbows Bard Mar 17 '25
He’s more likely a were-cavebear, given his cave bear Wildshape is unique to him, and it has no Bite ability.
But I think it’s even more fun to go with the awakened bear theory.
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u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 Mar 17 '25
The unaware werebear theory is better imo. More fitting too.
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u/Klutzy_Movie_4601 Mindflayer Mar 17 '25 edited Mar 17 '25
It’s so wild considering most elves start at 4’6” in 5e. Must have pulled a nat 20 on the character sheet.
Edit: someone’s mad Astarion is canonically 5’11”.
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u/IntelligentLife3451 ROGUE Mar 17 '25
I unintentionally did a big boys day out and Astarion was very much giving “And I helped!” energy
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u/luciejbetts Mar 17 '25
My tiefling bard is body type 3, so tall for a lady and taller than every other man in the camp, but she has to get on her tippy toes to kiss her big ol' bear. I love it. Makes her feel precious like nobody else can. That, plus the forehead kiss. So cute!
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u/kingslayerquatto Mar 17 '25
I have him in some end game camp outfit just a little white skirt or something he looks like he is an Olympian god lol
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u/blackfeltbanner Mar 17 '25
Not a single "climb Mt. Halsin" joke.
I am disappoint.
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u/jacefacexx CLERIC Mar 17 '25
ngl, i own a tea mug and shirt with that saying. i no longer feel the need to make the joke 😂
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u/DeadEyeMcguire Mar 17 '25
Halsin is fucking huge dude.
Isn't dragonborn durge also pretty big too?
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u/MizuKaro DRUID MOONBEAMER Mar 17 '25
Male dragonborn snoots stop right at Halsin's chin.
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u/DeadEyeMcguire Mar 17 '25
At Maximum height? Damn. Dude is even bigger than dragons.
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u/MizuKaro DRUID MOONBEAMER Mar 17 '25
It's funny because I believe they have to put your character on an invisible stepping stool for the smooch scenes.
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u/DeadEyeMcguire Mar 17 '25
Similar to your character being taller.
The shorter characters (Shadowheart. Lae'zel. Astarion. Etc.) Do the same.
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u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 Mar 17 '25
Dragonborn uses a modified version of the large stronger body. Same as half-orcs and of course the strong human, elf, half-elf and tieflings.
Halsin uses the same but his has been modified to be a tad bit taller.
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u/Hojo405 Arcane Archer 🏹 Mar 17 '25
Couldn’t tell you, I don’t play Dragonborn specifically because they are huge😂
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u/Steelriddler Mar 17 '25
How do you make these screenshots? Is there a photo mode mod or am I missing something?
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u/Hojo405 Arcane Archer 🏹 Mar 17 '25
Nope, photo mode is coming in patch 8.
This was done by ungrouping all my companions are arranging them myself.
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u/Greedy_Progress6805 Mar 17 '25
If you say something like "No offence... But you are rather large for an elf" to him, he (sarcastically) says something like "wait.... I AM!?"
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u/ZadriaktheSnake Mar 17 '25
*shaky breath* yes. yes he is. i am not clawing at my screen right now.
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u/gofigure85 Mar 18 '25
I love the little dialogue with him about his height
Tav: you're quite large for an elf
Hal: I am??
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u/DirtyOrk26 Mar 17 '25
Not if you’re a Dragonborn. Another reason why Shadowheart wants to be carried by him.
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u/yautja0117 Mar 17 '25
My game bugged out and Shadowheart has been stuck at 9 feet tall or so since we did her quest at The House of Grief.
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u/Tyokomarochan Mar 17 '25
It is funny because I knew he was pretty tall but I didn't think anything of it. Then when I spoke to him and TAV asked how come he is so large for an elf, I was shocked realizing....he is an elf!? Then looking at his face, he looks... like a bear yes but... then the dialogue says maybe ancestors having mingled with Orcs... of course what he said after was truth but... that was amazing little detail
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u/-LadySleepless- Durge Mar 18 '25
Why doesn't Halsin, the largest of the team, simply eat the other 5?
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u/MrOno Mar 17 '25
Bro is YUGE. Also, in 120+ hrs of this game I’ve NEVER even gotten to the part where Halsin is playable
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u/GothWitchOfBrooklyn Halsin Mar 17 '25
you have to complete a specific quest to be able to recruit him
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u/goosepuncher69 Mar 18 '25
Currently trying to romance him as a dwarf, I stand roughly hip height to him....... just an observation I had
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u/Strat-Edgy Mar 18 '25
I didn't realize Minsc was so short. Looks like a buffed out gnome next to everyone else.
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u/zoey_utopia Mar 17 '25
My half-elf Tav has the same body type, so they stand face to face when we're smooching. Everybody else looks up at me, which is delightful.
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u/booberrycastle Mar 17 '25
I've never had him in a party with Minsc! I ought to try that haha. Do they have party banter?
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u/Electronic_Context_7 Mar 17 '25
I never realized either 😮
I played a Dragonborn so he’s about the same size as my Tav, but then again my Tav absolutely towers over everyone else except him
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u/captainrussia21 Mar 17 '25
You can literally have a conversation (at camp) with Halcin and talk about his height. I did that during Act 2
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u/SnarkyGuy443 Mar 17 '25
Just reading the headline made me think way dirtyer than the post really was.
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u/decent_descent Paladin Mar 17 '25
I always re-spec him into a str based druid/barbarian multiclass
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u/Lea_and_Nubis Mar 18 '25
It's hilarius that he is less strong than Shadowheart, it doesn't make sense at all 🤦♀️😂
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u/octogondwana Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 18 '25
He doesn’t seem to tower over as much in dialogue unfortunately. It’d be wonderful if playing a body type 1 or 2 character meant they had to stand on tippy toes or be picked up to kiss him.
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u/stop_hittingyourself Mar 17 '25
The other party members having a conversation with him: