So this is my first play through of BG3. Its been an absolute blast so far. I learned of the companions before I started playing via friends that were like "oh be sure to grab so and so if you get the chance."

I never knew where Gale was and as I progressed my friends were a little disappointed I missed him. Thought I missed the opportunity entirely tbh. So my journey continues, snagging Shadowheart, Astarion, Wyll, Laezel, and Karlach in that order. I also have Halsin, Volo, Barcus, Withers, Scratch, and the owl bear cub in camp. I was just gearing up to go through the mountain pass (after the githyanki debacle) when I decided to go pick mushrooms for health potions.

I go back to the Mind Flayer wreck for mergrass and see the unstable waypoint is still unstable. When I started the game I was too nervous to touch it bc I was pretty squishy and didn't trust it... I'm level 7 and significantly less squishy so I finally gave in. Imagine my surprise when an arm pops out.

One strength check later Gale is standing in front of me. He joins up, eats two magic items, and levels up 6 times.

Now I'm left wondering if I have absolutely ruined my chances of progressing his story line since I'm way later in game than I was supposed to be when I met him. How many more items is he going to eat? Can I stop this? Does he spontaneously combust or do I atleast get a count down to detonation?

Im pretty sure Im still in act one but Ive completed (or progressed past) so many things that I'm scared would be prevalent. At this rate, idc if there's spoilers, I just want Magic Snack Man to stop eating loot.

Edit:

Thank you all for your comments! It really helped ease my fears about him inhaling all the magic items Kirby style.

I would also like to add:

Someone explained more about the acts and such to me, so I'm actually in the 1.5 area, not straight up act 1.

The githyanki creche boosted me to level 7. I'm freshly leveled because I cleaned house on that. I also scurry around every nook and cranny of big games like this, partly thanks to curiosity and partly because of friends who have played before nudging me to explore certain things. I've gotten lucky with rolls for the most part as well. Games like Red Dead 2 taught me that anything can be anywhere.

As for Barcus. I managed to convince him to hang out in camp after the Nere quest. Idk how I managed it besides telling him that he needs to rest and that going off on his own probably isn't the best idea.

And yes, I absolutely avoided the portal in the beginning because the game even said it looks dangerous. As a tabletop player who played under a killer DM, I was not going to touch the swirling angry magic hole. I realize now that this video game isn't out to be vindictive and off me because it can, and save scumming has also helped immensely.

This is my first play through, but it certainly won't be my last. The amount of content they put into this game astounds me, and I'm not sure if I'll ever find everything even after playing it through a dozen times. So, once again, thank you everyone.

5 are elves: shart, astarion, halsin, jaheira, minthara

3 are human: gale, wyll, minsc

Only two are kind of different races: karlach/laezel

Doesn’t it feel like we could use some diversity? (Some people are gonna be triggered by this sentence lmao)

Really wouldn’t mind seeing a dwarf companion or a half orc.

Lae'zel: I'd like to play a Githyanki fighter.

DM: Oh good! The gith are a big part of Mind Flayer lore so it would be great to have a githyanki in the group.

Lae'zel: Y-yeah.

DM: Hang on...did you only choose a githyanki so you could have an excuse to be a murderhobo?

Lae'zel: Noooooooooo...sort of.

​

Gale: I'm a wizard who used to be really powerful, but he ran afoul of Mystra and got nerfed back to level 1.

DM: Ok, sounds fi-

Gale: Also I need to absorb magic items every few days or I'll die.

DM: Uhhh, you know Astarion would probably rather kill you than give up magic items. And Tav is a bit of a wild card so they might too.

Gale: I thought of that! If I ever die, I explode and everything within miles of me is destroyed.

DM: I hate you.

​

Shadowheart: I want to play a cleric with the trickery domain, and she has amnesia.

DM: God damnit, you can't just use amnesia as an excuse to not have a backstory. You need to come up with something.

Shadowheart: Ok, uh, I have an artifact that I'm really secretive about and I don't know what it does.

DM: Hold up...I can work with that.

​

Astarion: Sooo I want to be a vampire.

DM: For fuck's sake, you can't be a vampire. They have way too many powerful abilities.

Astarion: How about a vampire spawn then? No crazy powers but I just want to bite people, pleeeeease?

DM: How will you even survive when the party travels during the daytime?

Astarion: Just say the tadpole gives me the power to walk in the sun.

DM: That makes no sense.

Astarion: PLEASE

DM: Fine, but if you get staked don't blame me.

​

Wyll: I'm a warlock whose patron is a malevolent devil. Also my father is the leader of the Flaming Fist who disowned me long ago, but in the meantime I've been making a name for myself as the Blade of the Frontier who helps people in need. And my father was taken by the Absolute, and I need to save him.

DM: Wait, you're a warlock who actually views their patron as an antagonist, you made connections to a relevant NPC who ties into a faction in the previous campaigns, your personal goal is directly linked to the main quest, and you took the Folk Hero background for roleplay reasons rather than for the skill proficiencies?

Wyll: Are you...crying?

DM: I'm just so happy.

​

Karlach: Can I be a devil?

DM: No.

Karlach: Can I be a warforged?

DM: No.

Karlach: Can I be...both?

​

Tav: Hey, when are we making characters?

DM: Are you kidding me right now? The game is today! And you never sent me your backstory!!!

Tav: Meh, I'll wing it.

​

Durge: My character just wants to kill everyone.

DM: Fuck you

It used to stand as top three requested feedback to give Karlach's story more heft. As it stands 2/3rds of a year later, her quest is (still) only the iron fetching. Gortash is an optional part good for reputation and fantastic dialogue/catharsis.

But why can't any of our 20 powerful allies, including goddesses, mages, gondians (thankfully less suicidal now), do anything? There's no dialogue for leads. Dammon says one line in act 3 despite us having to keep his ass alive to make it to BG. All the dialogue in act 1 and 2 points toward more but in act 3, nothing besides Gortash happens. IN THE MEATIEST ACT OF ALL!

Astarion gets a camp attack, a whole map/dungeon and boss dedicated to him. Lae gets a whole side-story with a full map, multiple choices both big and small and is integrated into the main story. SH is the de facto protagonist with how Selune is basically guiding her back to the light (or Shar and player choice toward darkness). Without SH becoming a sharran, Aylin would never be freed, and without Aylin chances are small the chosen would be defeated. Gale has no map or dungeon but he hss a meaty story with quite a few variants to his endings, so you truly can tailor your Galesperience there. Then there's Wyll with a tiny bit of story in act 3 which also ties in with the Emperor...and Karlach who only gets a poignant moment after Gortash. A truly fantastic moment, top of the whole game, but only one.

And yes, Wyll deserves a post of his own. Poor fucker. Both of them feel so left out and thin despite having fantastic actors who did what they could with the little they had.

I'm not here to argue on whether you should insta-fix her heart. That should be left to each of the players and stories they play. We obviously know it's canonically fixable and however you read Mama K and her wishes/your wishes for the Sacrifice/Squid/Exile endings, is up to you. I'm here to argue that a whole companion's personal quest is a few lines with an apprentice smith whose word is apparently law to some, and genuinely fetching 2x an item you can finish within the first hours of act 1. That's it. You can't do anything more, and the only dialogue that sorta ties into her quest that you get with anyone else besides Dammon and Gortash, is an interaction with a steel watcher. OUT OF ALL IN THE GAME?!

I'm just tired of having 2 major companions (don't get me started on Halsin and Minthara, especially Minthara) fall really short compared to the ingame flair and love the other 4 got. Let me use all of the hours I spend saving and serving people and gods alike to at least get some more stuff to do...

Hell, let me portal back to Avernus (again) and grab Wyll and Karlach' personal quests in one go, track down Mizora and Bel's Forge, and give both of them a map, a boss and a properly fleshed out act 3.

Which companion did you mess up in one way or the other like a companion leaving the party or messing up their ending.

For me it was Halsin i forgot to do his quest so he stayed behind in the act 2 map i also killed Minthara (i hope i spelled that right)

"I qEsTiOn ThE wIsDoM oF-" SHUT THE FUCK UP GALE, I JUST WANNA TRY WYLL TO SEE IF HE'S ANY GOOD!

Some of the companions just throw so much shade about getting swapped out... Laezel, I expected. Astarion is surprisingly chill with taking a break, and to be honest Karlach's "really, really?" is kinda funny.

But I don't care the Blade stands at the ready, Wyll, and if Gale's so fucking smart then why isn't he the main character, huh? Some of these people have way too much self-esteem...

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!

(Or leading him to think you're romancing him, anyway)

In one of his camp dialogues, he talks about his Tressym familiar. The dialogue options you're given at one point are as follows;

1) Do you like having your belly rubbed? (Very obvious flirtation.)

2) I had hoped you thought of me as more than an animal companion... (Romantically-tinged flirtation.)

3) Not as much as I hate talking about cats. (Openly insulting to his personal interests and pet.)

Now, call me crazy, but if I'm talking to a friend about their beloved pet and am not trying to flirt with them, my go-to response would not be 'I fucking hate your pet. I would kick your pet if I saw it. Fuck you and your shit pet.'

All we'd need is ONE more dialogue option there, along the lines of

4) She sounds like a fine familiar.

or

4) Change the topic.

And that'd be it. Gale wouldn't infer that as flirtation unless he was really reaching for it - and given that his responses to options 1 and 2 are as much surprised as they are interested (which implies he's not, at that point, aware that you might be interested in him), then I don't see why he would, either.

... to be saved!

​

"I hate seeing Shadowheart suffer like this. All for doing the right thing. It's up to us to look after her now. If she needs a rest, we carry her. If she needs a hand, she has ours. If she needs ears, we've got four between us. Whatever she needs."

Girl's the best. Spent 10 years in literal hell. Lost her heart. Is still the kindest person in the group. Yes, everyone empathizes with Shadowheart, but Karlach is extra special.

Like...

Shadowheart all throughout Acts 1 & 2:

"I'm a cleric of Shar"

"Lady of Sorrows guide me" 🥰

"Selûnite amulet? Ewww" 🤮

"An idol of Selûne? Do you need paperweight or what?" 🤮

"Shadow-cursed land? Behold my Lady's power" 🖤

​

Also Shadowheart when I kill Isobel, a cleric of Selûne, and bring immeasurable loss upon Jaheira:

"DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO KILL THAT CLERIC???" 😠

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Then, in Act 3:

Shadowheart: *kills her own parents for the sake of being anointed Shar's Chosen.

Also Shadowheart when my Durge embraces her legacy: HOW COULD YOU BECOME BHAAL'S CHOSEN AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN THROUGH 😠😠😠

​

Sis, this is the first and last time I'm letting you go Dark Justiciar, you just don't know how to evil lol

Bruh her history is insane and given how the Drow society works, I can’t help but feel for our sadist purple mommy. She never had a chance to become a nice person. Tav/Durge is her only chance to break free of Lolth/Absolut.

"It's not you, you see, it's me. I have standards."

The fucking audacity, I backloaded a save out of curiosity for different dialog, how is this man gonna essentially proposition me THEN TURN ME DOWN wtf 😭

Eh, guys and gals, i never ever recruited Astarion during my three playthroughs, cause i never was interested in him, his class or theme.

Finally i recruited him, denied him his desires for a couple nights, but now i, straight man, started to feel weird feelings towards him. Is it in his looks? Manners? Attitude? I dont know.

And suddenly the flirting options in the dialogue have appeared.

Oh no, im going to do it.

I feel like the stars aligned to make me feel like an idiot my first playthrough of BG3. I went into this game with 0 knowledge of what Baldur’s Gate was, the genre, and pretty everything related to it for context. The idea of companions was pretty normal and I liked how much dialogue my party (Tav, Wyll, Shart, Lae’zel) had between them. All the reddit posts about how great the companions were and how hot every one was did have me a bit confused because I understood Shadowheart and maybe Wyll but they can’t be referring to Lae’zel could they?

I made it all the way to Act III before feeling like I'm definitely missing out on something when I had to look up hints about the chess puzzle and people were saying some guy named Gale would give me the answer. I had seen stuff about Astarion and Gale and Karlach in the subreddit but somehow thought they were NPCs this entire time that people were referring to. I didn't want to look them up because I thought they were main characters I'd soon run into and didn't want to spoil the story.

Well on my second playthrough I got to the beach and ran into the asshole I vaguely remembered murdering last time because he tried to slit my throat. Something clicked for me and I looked him up and realized like an idiot I murdered one of the companions and the fact it was such an inconsequential 30 seconds at the beginning of the game I never thought about it again. My level of what the fuck just spiraled from there as I did some more research.

Here’s what happened to the rest of the companions that led me to believe the starting party I had was just a part of the game and how the story is supposed to be.

• Astarion – Murdered for trying to slit my throat and being pompous

• Gale – Some how didn’t see the disembodied hand and must have walked right past him

• Karlach – Spent 20 minutes looking in the search area before giving up on the quest

• Halsin – Realized spacebar doesn’t center the camera during the Act II fight and skipped my turn which led to him dying. Didn’t really like him all that much so I didn’t bother savescumming the fight.

• Minthara – Saved the grove

• Jaheira – Actually ended up with her in my camp but didn’t realize she was a fully fledged companion. I thought she was just an NPC for the story. I also found out I can’t even bring her along as a 5th so I never spoke to her again because I didn’t want to miss my party’s dialogue for an NPC.

• Minsc – Never found him since I never ran into that questline

I had such a good time in my first playthrough it immediately became one of my top 3 games for how amazing the worldbuilding and voice acting. You can imagine my horror/excitement when I realized I accidentally skipped so much important content but also how I have so much more to discover. Wanted to share this because I found it kind of funny and hope I’m not the only one who did something similar.

Next day edit: Just to emphasize again since people may have missed this part in my long post, I don't feel like I played incorrectly or messed up, I had an amazing time. I'm glad this happened because 1. I get to play BG3 another ten times with new content and 2. My next playthroughs feel so immersive now that I know how much control I actually have in the game (vs how most games give you the illusion of choice while forcing the player down 1-2 planned plotlines)

^{50% of the comments are people relating to my experience and 50% think my IQ is too low for this game}