I’m just about to start my second full playthrough, and have run through Act I multiple times. Rather than choosing my main three companions and leaving everyone else in camp, I’m wanting to juggle companions. There are three main reasons for this: advancing everyone in the group and keeping them geared; giving each character a chance for their unique personal interactions; and trying to max out all opinion sliders. For an example: Lae’zel offers unique interaction with Kithrak Voss.
I’m hoping we can compile a list of best party compositions for roleplay potential in certain areas. I’ll start us off with all that I can think up from above ground Act I.
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Party Pairings: Wyll and Karlach pair well. Lae’zel and Shadowheart clash. Astarion generally clashes with any companion with a modicum of decency.
Grove:
- Recommended party composition: Shadowheart, Wyll, and Gale for kind interactions, Lae’zel and Astarion for mean/underganded interactions.
- Lae’zel is necessary for an interaction with Zorru.
- Be mean to Zorru to get night 1 romance with Lae’zel.
- Keep Wyll out of your party if you intend to free Sazza.
- Keep Astarion and Lae’zel out of the party if you intend on being kind to tieflings.
- Take S/W/G if you intend on saving Arabelle
Risen Road:
- Recommended party composition: Wyll, Karlach, anyone with high Wisdom.
- Karlach and Wyll are a good duo for confronting the paladins of Tyr. This is a personal quest for Karlach.
- For the gnoll fight, a character with high Wisdom is useful in persuading the flind to fight for you and then kill itself.
Waukeen’s Rest:
- Recommended party composition: Wyll, any other two (I just go Lae’zel and Karlach).
- Wyll has a personal interaction regarding the kidnapping of Duke Ravengard.
Mountain Crossing:
- Recommended party composition: Lae’zel, any other two (Wyll and Karlach for me).
- Lae’zel has a unique interaction with Kithrak Voss.
Blighted Village:
- Recommended party composition: Gale, Astarion (if he has snuck out of camp), any other.
- Astarion has something to say about the boar drained of blood.
- Gale is intrigued by the Thayan necromancer and the book of necromancy. Consider giving this to him.
Goblin village:
- Recommended party composition: Shadowheart, Astarion, anyone else NOT including Wyll.
- Shadowheart has unique remarks about the repurposed temple of Selune.
- Shadowheart and Astarion have a good time watching you bask in Loviatar’s love.
- Wyll struggles to keep his fat mouth shut. Keep the liability in camp.
Teahouse:
- Recommended party composition: sneaky people or people with Hold Person (if you intend on minimising casualties), someone with create water for cheese.
- I just always fight the hag. +1 to any stat is useless as only even stats count, and you should be shuffling the “standard” ability array to get all even stats (including two 16s). The Hag Eye is also a liability as perception is rolled more often than intimidate.
- Sneak and cast Hold Person if you don’t want to fight any of the masked people.
- cast Create Water on Myrina’s cage to protect her. You can usually tell her and Ethel apart through use of Examine, but Create Water results in Mayrina being wet, which doesn’t require examine to discern.
I have to disagree about a +1 being useless. It's a very early way in the game to get a bonus increase. If you dump 3 stats (say, strength, wisdom and int on a warlock, sorcerer or bard) you end up with 17, 16, and 15. You can take this +1 in your main stat and take and ASI at level 4 to get to 20. That will carry you through Act 2 until you get either main stat buffing gear or the buff from the Mirror.
As for the other odd stat, it's really easy to find a "half feat" to get this even too. Maybe something like Alert or Weapon Master to sound out your Dex, or Resilient in Con or Dex to grab proficiency in a strong saving throw you aren't proficient in yet.
Maybe it's just the minmaxer in me, but I'll never pass up the hair, even if I have to persuade Ethel to give me both. Without the hair, you can only get to 20 in your main stat at level 8, but without it you get that bonus at 4 and save room for feats. That makes it particularly useful for feat heavy builds, like GWM/PAM/Sentinel, who otherwise wouldn't get their main stat bonus above +3 until they get stat boosting gear in Act 2 (or more likely Act 3 in the House of Hope).
Having played through on tactician, the game is very playable with only 18 in your main stats. There are so many opportunities for advantage, accuracy buffs, and just straight up positive modifiers that an extra +1 to your roll is negligible. The only 20 I took was to Shadowheart’s wisdom because I didn’t need an extra feat for the build.
That said, if you have two particular half-feats in mind for your build such as resilient Con and and Actor on a Cha caster without con saves, then starting with a 17 and 15 is fine. If you’re planning on heavy good guy RP, a +1 isn’t worth compromising your morals by sparing a hag.
Spare the hag and save Mayrina, then kill her later for a sweet legendary! It's all wins.
A +1 to hit isn't huge but when you're adding it to 3+ attacks a round on a blade pact warlock or to each EB beam with the robe in Act 2, it adds up.
There are definitely RP reasons not to spare her, but you can't discount a +1 as not being useful. It's a permanent boon that allows you to spend resources in other places. Maybe you don't buff to 20 and instead use it to raise a second stat to 18 easier (hair plus ASI to get 18, 18, 16). Or it leaves more room for feats. I know I'm just using min-max logic, but I can't turn down a bonus. That's also why Volo got to dig around in my skull on my first playthrough...
I'm putting on my tabletop min-max hat. A +1 modifier (i.e. a +2 to the score) to an already high ability offers diminishing returns compared to using that modifier to shore up a low skill, especially if your build doesn't give at least a +2 to the 3 key save abilities (Dex, Con, Wis). Do note that this comes with a caveat that a +3 modifier to your main stat and a second +3 to a key save stat are definitely essential for an optimised starting build. Unless you're playing a Monk or a dex-based build for a Wis caster, you're inevitably leaving a key ability score without at least a +2 modifier.
To return to your previous post of the 17/16/15/8/8/8 stat array, unless you're limiting yourself to Monk or Cleric, Druid, or Ranger (lol), assigning this stat array leaves you with an 8 in one of Dex, Con, or Wis, probably Wis. Considering that 8 ability, assuming a DC of 13 on a save (which is an optimal save early game and a low save mid-late game) you have a 40% chance to save. An extra +1 in that ability brings that to a 45% chance, an 12.5% increase. Now consider a primary ability of 16, with an early game proficiency bonus of +2. An attack roll against an AC of 13 (which is pretty middle of the pack early game) gives you a 65% chance to hit. An extra +1 equates to a 7.6% increase in probability to hit. This is discounting all the ways in which one can get significant boosts to attack rolls via high ground, acid, prone, hiding etc.
To again harp on with this 17/16/15/8/8/8 example, a truly optimised build assuming a key ability not part of your 3 top skills is a 16/16/14/12/8/8. If you're planning on taking the hag hair, I'd go as far as to suggest shoving it in the 12 and then shoring that to 14 via resilient in that skill. After all, that extra +1 to attack means absolutely nothing if you can't pass a save against a second level Hold Person.