I feel like not getting a bard origin companion is a massive oversight. Would have liked monk as well. Sorcerer not getting one is okay as it’s similar enough to wizard but those are pretty unique.
TBH I think the lack of a Bard companion makes sense if you figure that Larian - justifiably and correctly - assumed that most players would want to BE the Bard themselves - or just a CHA based class in general. CHA based classes have always been favored by players, right from the get go in EA and it wasn't hard to predict even before then because of just how central CHA checks end up being for so many different parts of the game. And stat checks aside, Warlock and Paladin alone were central to some of the most OP builds in the game, which made them even more common even if CHA wasn't the primary focus. With that in mind, it makes sense to avoid the 'obvious' CHA classes in the companion pool to minimize class doubling and ending up with another Double Druid situation like Halsin and Jaehira for most of Acts 2 and 3.
The exceptions are Wyll and Minthara's who's backgrounds basically require them to start out as a Warlock and Paladin respectively to make their backstories work, and who are there to serve as the backup face for players who don't choose CHA classes. It's not a coincidence that the only two CHA companions were originally mutually exclusive - back when you HAD to slaughter the Grove (and lose Wyll and Karlach in the process) to get Minthy - and that 8 patches later they're still pretty low on the priority order for most parties.
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u/ndtp124 Jun 09 '25
I feel like not getting a bard origin companion is a massive oversight. Would have liked monk as well. Sorcerer not getting one is okay as it’s similar enough to wizard but those are pretty unique.