Companions in Baldur's Gate 3 are special NPCs that can be recruited to join the player's party and usually aid the player during combat and exploration. Companions have their own set of stats, abilities, equipment, lore, and more, which make them unique from one another. Throughout the game, players will meet possible NPCs that can be recruited as a companion who joins your party if certain conditions are met. This page covers a list of all the companions that can be found in Baldur's Gate 3. Some companions can also be selected in the Character Creation screen as Origins, allowing players to play from their point of view, but that feature is not available during Early Access.
All Companions, including both Origins and Hirelings, can be respecced in the game to any other class, the only thing that can't be changed is Race (and Sub-race for 2 characters). If a character like Wyll is changed into a different class, the character will still be, story-wise a Warlock in their head. so absolutely nothing is changed for their story, origin, or lore if they are respecced in any way to any other class in the game.
Note: If you chose Lae'zel as you MC, you will meet a temporary Githyanki companion named Losiir in prologue. (Who is later killed in crash, there's no way to acquire his tadpole.)
Baldur's Gate 3 Companion Tips
BG3 Companion Selection Helpful Notes
- Consider your own main character's class when choosing companions.
- Choose companions who fulfill different roles to create a well-rounded party.
- Assign roles to companions based on their classes: combat specialist, dialogue specialist, utility, support caster, and offensive caster.
- Karlach and Lae'zel are combat specialists; avoid having both in the same party.
- Shadowheart is the primary utility and support character among the early companions.
- Gale serves as the offensive caster among the initial companions.
- Respec companions early in the game to optimize their ability scores and skills.
Baldur's Gate 3 Companions Guide
Astarion
Astarion is a High Elf Rogue who has prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light, but can he leave his wicked past behind?
Shadowheart
A High Half-Elf Trickster Domain Cleric, and one of Shar's dark disciples, Shadowheart was sent on a suicide mission to steal an item of great power. While wrestling with her faith and strange, untamed magic, Shadowheart has enemies on all sides - and a long-buried secret to uncover
Gale
A Human Wizard, Gale has one ambition: to become the greatest wizard Faerun has ever known. Yet his thirst for magic led to disaster. A Netherese Destruction Orb beats in his chest, counting down to an explosion that can level a city. Gale is confident he'll overcome it, but time is not on his side.
Lae'zel
Lae'zel is a consummate Fighter, ferocious even by the standards of a Githyanki creche. Faced with transforming into the very monster she has sworn to destroy, Lae'zel must prove herself worthy of rejoining her people - if they do not execute her first.
Wyll
A Human Warlock, and Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. He keeps his pact with a devil well-hidden and is desperate to escape the hellish bargain - even if that means rescuing the seductive creature that made the deal.
Karlach
Karlach, a Zariel Tiefling, once committed terrible deeds in the thrall of a powerful Archdevil. This Barbarian has an Infernal Machine for a heart that keeps her body burning red-hot. Newly freed from her master's grasp, she seeks revenge on those who sold her to the devil.
Baldur's Gate 3 Hirelings Guide
Baldur's Gate 3 Hirelings Overview
Hirelings are NPC characters that can be hired to join your party and assist you on your adventure. Although Hirelings are not as interactive as Origins or Companions, they each feature a unique identity and backstory.
Once Withers has joined your Camp, you may speak to him to recruit a Hireling for 100 gold. There are 12 Hirelings on the roster available for recruitment, one from each class.
You may have up to three Hirelings recruited to your party and Camp at a time. Unlike Companions, you may dismiss Hirelings from your service at any time. Their level will be reverted to 1, and their inventory will be transferred to yours.
Do I need Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3?
Not necessarily, but you can use them to fill up your party or to replace any lost companion from your team. You can also create a completely customized party with just Hirelings. If a Companion should permanently leave your party, you can replace them with Hirelings. The possibilities are endless as you can even hire a combination of Hirelings with the same class. You can have a party entirely made of Barbarian for example. Hirelings also give you additional options beyond the characters available from the Origins roster and it also gives you full control of the strengths and weaknesses of the Classes in your party.
Respec a Character and Hiring Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3
In Baldur's Gate 3, you can Respec your characters as many times as you want, as long as you have the required gold and have already added Withers to the Camp. Approach him and select Respec among the services he provides. Withers will ask for 100 gold pieces for his service. The price of the service DOES NOT increase. Withers also is the person you need to talk to be able to access Hirelings.
Any character can interact with Withers to Respec, even your Companions if they pay the asking price. Note that respeccing a character does not change its dialogue interactions or Quests.
Baldur's Gate 3: Selecting your Hireling
When you're about to recruit Hirelings, you will be able to choose from a selection of 12 Hirelings, with each one representing a different Class. By recruiting Hirelings to your party, you can tailor the group dynamic to focus on a specific class, allowing you to create a customized composition that would synergize well with your preferred party build. With that being said, it is entirely possible for you to have a party made up of only Fighters for example. You may respec them at any time to create a customized party.
AnonymousThey don’t even mention Volo the bard in this companion guide…. I wonder how many other companions there are that haven’t been found/not included in these guides.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
why is a character like minthara who is voiced by the great emma gregory and a better design than the other two you would lose in bargain to get her, downgraded to this state? karlach literally served zariel and when you kill a single druid (who are willing to slaughter literal refugees) she's like: "f off bruh" and it gets even funnier with wyll. dude is out there casting eldritch blasts and his story is: "trying to hide his pact with a devil". it's not about the companions, it's the content you lose when you go down this route. the only thing that made me go with karlach and wyll was to get dammon's staff and smash mizora.
- Anonymous
*minor spoilers* I really dislike how they made this section of the game first of all why i am stuck with the appearence and race when I'm picking a hireling especially when they have no interactions and even the VA for them is just tav's voice for all of them so that is out for most of the players quickly. second why you should sacrifice 2 companions and half of the game's content to get minthara like even when you have high approval with karlach the second you destroy the grove she's like nah bro I'm out you can even kill her and wyll in your party then do the grove quest and the second you sound the horn they somehow figure out what you did and "your comanion has left the party permanently* there is no work around it basically so you have to do different playthroughs. and third there's very little selection of companions ofc you can respec all of them but really you can't get the best experience from them when you do that like how can i change gale to a fighter or a barbarian astarion. almost everyone has to go with shadowheart and gale cuz they're the only two greatly designed characters since the selection is pretty slim you can't replace them. maybe add a camp restriction for the amount of companions you can have there and add other npc's as companions hopefully in the future or maybe recruit some of the npc's in the actual game as hirelings this will add even more diversity to the gameplay and they don't have to be upgradable or respecable too like bernard for example (the construct in the arcane tower) you can't add new gear or weapons to them so that's the drawback but you don't take other things from the game like the minthara example you can just choose to have him in the camp or gameplay for a period of time or not other examples that come to my mind is like rath in the act I, alfira, isobel, one of the sovereigns, mizora or aylin may be op in act I and II but maybe you can work around them too. overall gameplay wise they're all possible so i don't see why they shouldn't be implemented. if there was more than what we have now or a little improvement with the hirelings the game would be perfect
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Reading the comments section reminds why I dislike 90% of the humans I’ve been unfortunate enough to meet.
A little sad that we don't have any dwarves or halflings for proper companions. Zero dragonborn even among hirelings. Gotta make an origin character if you want those. Also no monk or sorcerer but two druids. Obviously you can use hirelings or change class but still. Would be nice if we had 2 more chars for the missing classes.
- Anonymous
I read all this part of the guide and all the comments but didn't find the answer to my question: can you switch companions to do all their quests? I.e. can I group with Halsin and let Lae'zel go to do the quest in Last Light Inn, then switch back to Lae'zel without losing rep with her? Thanks for helping
- Anonymous
Interesting? What thoughts were in the minds of the developers when they decided to take Minthara's child away, thereby destroying the replayability of this character.
- Anonymous
Half of these complaints are instantly dismissed once they use Withers. “Waaah there isn’t a combination of this class/race”. Withers.
- Anonymous
I decided to join Minthara. Now Halsin, Karlach, Wyll, and Gale left me, and now about 15 quests including endings are not available to me. What will I get after act 1 except silent paladin without her own story and quests?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Minthara literally has nothing but meaningless remarks, kill dozens of npc and give up companions for this. Linear game with one script conceived by the developer, choosing another way is punished by the lack of content.
- Anonymous
can some one make a vod/link one that shows all the speshal treats the companions get ie:Karlach has sol coins (+1d4 to all damage for a day) or astarion and his bite(+1 to all attacks and damage for a day) Gail hase a Pocket Nuke or the dark urge gets the bis clock even MINTHARA gets sol branding that adds a D4 to damage for someone
- Anonymous
Companions in this game are so bad...
Their backstories are so similiar and completely over the top exaggerated with god like (literally) backstories and then the thin excuse of "Lost powers cause of tadpole"
Also there are way too few companions...
- Anonymous
gotta say its a bit dissapointing that there 2 humans and 2 elf/half elves like couldnt we get some diversity race wise? like let us have a orc bard constantly giving small songs like those in shadow of mordor.
or just stuff like let us have a goblin companion
- Anonymous
So Minthara was planned as an original character and was in the game longer than some of the other companions, but was remade and downgraded to the level of scum, cause the devs considered her pregnancy with quests a difficult and unnecessary task. Even after the news of the dialogue patch, my friends refuse to save her, knowing that she will remain a character without her own content.
- Anonymous
Darn, no dragonborn. Time to slay all of the elves as Pelinel Whitestrake. That means half of the companions.
- Anonymous
1 Companion for every class would have been nice, but oh well. Its a minor complaint. Maybe theyll add something in the future ?
- Anonymous
Too many of the main companions have some silly dark backstory that they can't tell you anything about. I find the extra companions more interesting so far, I love Halsin because the **** he says actually makes sense, and comes off as a genuinely good guy. I hope there is still a lot of dialogue with him and npc's, even though he isn't a 'main' companion.
- Anonymous
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In D&D lore, illithids cannot host smaller humanoids such as dwarves, halflings, and gnomes. The transition occurs too quickly resulting in the death of the tadpole and the original creature.
- Anonymous
These companions are all stiflingly samey. All of the origins have the same formulaic backstory, and there's very poor diversity in terms of alignment (dropping the alignment matrix isn't an excuse for railroading us into being stuck somewhere between good and chaotic neutral); combat abilities; and race. Very disappointing, considering how Larian absolutely knocked it out of the park with DoS2's companions.
- Anonymous
*SPOILERS*
Can anyone provide info about the bonus abilities/ powers that companions acquire during their quests?
Also do the bonus powers differ if the character is your main PC?
I know a few -->
>Dark Urge gets Slayer Form
>Asterion gets a low-key amazing bite, and if you make him your PC, he starts with it
- Anonymous
WHich companions has evil side? I want to do with The Dark Urge one run
- Anonymous
I just wish I could keep my brain puppy from the Nautiloid. :(
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can also get Alfira as a bard companion.
Not sure how i triggered it by being rude to her but after a few nights she will join you at camp
They really dropped the ball with the companions in this game. No gnome, dwarf, halfing, or dragonborn? It wouldn't be a big deal if we could still make a custom party like in the original games. RIP my role playing experience, I guess I'll just use the party the game allows me to :-(
- Anonymous
Its funny how game inexplicity tells you how to best experience this game and that you should build your main char as a bard,
which is the only missing class among all companions.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
i'm a bit annoyed that you can't recruit any gobbo's. from what i can tell, the best you can do is intimidate them into video game submission, which is effectively just a passive role
you can turn that brain thingy from the first level into a companion
- Anonymous
I kinda wish the male companions had more race variety, we have 3 human and 2 elf
When the game has 11 races there should be a little more variety for the male characters.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I know Fextra makes these wikis so they can get ad money and viewbot their streams but holy sh*t i wish they actually put some info into 'em
- Anonymous
i dont mind the companions we have and i quite like all of them, moreso than other games of this genre, but one thing that baffles me is the complete lack of a dragonborn origin, companion, or hireling. its no big deal but its wild the complete lack of one entire race
- Anonymous
A bit of lackluster that you don't get any medium-small size companion... No gnome, no halfling, no dwarf... but furthermore you get 3 human and 3 half elf BUT no drow, no half orc or dragonborn. Oh well... at least a dwarf would have been nice.
- Anonymous
Are there ways to get all companions and be friends with them at the same playthrough without anyone leaving?
- Anonymous
The comments here are absolutely hilarious. They all consist of rando saying something objective about the game, some idiot objecting to the comment with their opinion being stated as fact. You can't even respond to responses so it's just a bunch of people saying "thing" "nuh uh". It's like kindergarten up in here, how dare you have an opinion of your own that doesn't match mine!
- Anonymous
As a DND player I appreciate that all of the Origin companions all have backstories that imply they are very powerful, but they all start at level 1 (or whatever level you are when you recruit them) and aren't very strong. This actually gets brought up by your companions and it is somewhat explained that they each lost some of their power due to the events of the nautiloid.
- Anonymous
you can get Alfira, apparently! I just got her to show up at my camp begging to join our merry little band.
- Anonymous
I'm just waiting for a mod that enables in game character customization at any time. I'm pretty sure Divinity Original Sin 2 had a mirror you could use.
- Anonymous
If anyone finds a whinier comment section on a wiki, I would love know. This wins so far.
- Anonymous
Seriously, was it THAT hard to add a few more companions? one of at least every race or class?
they could just be more simple characters, we don't need them to have a super intricate storyline, just help them in a couple of quests or something and they tag along to the party.
also those could be a little more "generic" in a sense of not feeling guilt for changing their storyline class...
This is lame af.
- Anonymous
Two druids. No monk, bard, or sorcerer. Overwhelmingly elf, half-elf, and human with no gnomes, orcs, halflings, or dragonborn in sight. Most of the starting companions are some shade of evil and disapprove of you doing general good-aligned / adventurer things.
It pains me to say but this lineup disappoints me. The fact that there's not at least 1 companion per class is insane to me. Respeccing and hirelings make for decent bandages, but the problem is obviously deeper than their fixes. If you want anything plot or flavor related regarding monks, sorcerers, or bards, you are obligated to take the initiative with your one single custom character, and you couldn't even have all three without paying to make your other companions something they're not. It's lame.
- Anonymous
Only 10 companions? That's weak... BG1 and 2 had like 20+ each, not even counting the temporaries... I know I know it's not the same cost and development time blah blah blah... Still I thought this was the biggest game ever made or some ****.
- Anonymous
Ma question est la suivante concernant les mercenaires, j'aimerais en ajouter mais seule la classe m'intéresse, puis je refaire le mercenaire sur mesure ? Race, skills, etc...
(Exemple, j'aimerais ajouter une barde a mon groupe, mais Withers me propose qu'un personnage gnome dégueulasse comme barde, comment je peux changer le skin du perso?)
Merci
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Got to be the most boring lineup of cardboard people ever made.
I'm sorry I talked trash about Lidya, she was a better character than any of these edgy dolts (she's sworn to carry my burdens).
- Anonymous
Really wish they would just add a hireling that was like the dark urge origin (but without the dark urge RP stuff) that could be recruited multiple times... maybe someone who knows how will make a mod
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The only companions I need are Shadowheart, Minthara, and Jaheira. The rest can **** off. Btw is it possible to romance all of them at the same time?
- Anonymous
I found a new companion. She's a strong powerful and brave trans woman who smashes the patriarchy.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
lmao such turbo nerds here. you can respec the companions to any class within the first 2 hours of the game. people complaining about woke trash are such snowflakes lol
- Anonymous
Lol, there are so many Larian Shills here that can't accept any kind of Criticism. This Herd Mentality is why the Videogame Industry has gone straight to **** when it comes to Quality.
- Anonymous
They really could learn a thing or two from WOTR companions. So uninspiring with all the human and elf companions. Most as white as cheesecake.
- Anonymous
Ok Karlach as a damn barbarian makes absolutely no sense when you consider her background especially. WHY??? Minsc should have always been the barbarian and Karlach either a ranger, rogue, or fighter type.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
1700 endings. 0 orcs; 0 halflings; 0 gnomes; 0 dwarves; 0 dragonborns for companions. You've got to be kidding me.
- Anonymous
About four years ago, I got acquainted with isometrics. From the classic three, Baldurs Gate became for me the golden mean between the dialog Planescape and the combat Icewind dale. But I am still sad about the finale of the offspring of Baal, his subsequent canonization. In my opinion, the coin that fell on the edge at his birth indicated freedom of choice from the beginning of history to the end. It was possible not to engage in fanservice with Minsk and Jaheira and come up with a separate story, or at least move the ending from the last part.
I'm sorry for my whining. It's just that I think Baalspawn deserved to be a little better than the faceless final boss of a board game.
- Anonymous
Having just played WOTR, these companions are pretty uninspired.
- Anonymous
Worth remembering it's still in early access. I think the characters (especially the origin characters) are wonderfully acted, animated, and fleshed out. They all have tons of personality, interesting backstories and I think that's what matters in a DnD game. Some find them abrasive, and I get that. But go outside if you want friends! ;) Also, I think the point is to see their journey. Will they stop being hostile and become a team? Will they fall into disarray? That's the point. We've barley seen the first act. And again, these will not be the only options in the game for companions.
- Anonymous
What the hell is this??? It's literally 4 humans and 4 elves, not a single dwarf, halfling or gnome! Not even a half orc!
How the hell did they manage to be this boring???
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
What an interesting, an informative comment section. It fills me with joy to see how gamers never changed.
- Anonymous
Why can't be have some so called stereotyped companions? A dwarf warrior, an elven ranger, romanceable presentable males/females, and more importantly much more variety.
- Anonymous
Seeing as how they're bringing back Minsk and Jaheira, I don't understand why they haven't returned other famous Baldur's Gate companions, like Viconia, Edwin, or Sarevok. It would have been AWESOME to see them again in glorious high-res 3D, and learn more of their stories.
And don't tell me "their stories are finished", it's nonsense, if there's a will there's a way. R.A. Salvatore brought back Drizz't's entire original party centuries after their deaths, and even resurrected his dead father for closure.
In fact, BG3 should have continued entirely with the original cast, e.g. with the Protagonist being robbed of his divinity by the vengeful Cyric and cast down to begin again as a mortal (storyline hinted at the end of TOB but never followed up).
- Anonymous
and i thought pathfinder wotr companions were terrible. so far everyone in bg3 is obnoxious and unlikable.
- Anonymous
Feels like comments are mostly kids who saw a big streamer played this for 5 minutes and still have mommy cut the crust off pb&j
- Anonymous
First of all, I believe that there's gonna be companions on every classes.
Second thing is I clearly do not understand why most people find current companions interesting. I literally having great fun when Laezel and Shadowheart arguing. They have some background like shadowheart is a last member of a cult. Laezel got kicked out by its own race. Astarion is Astarion. Gale has a f*king bomb in his chest. They all are unique and dont forget that this game is still in early access. I am not defending all critisim here but I feel like people expecting Matt Mercer level storytelling here.
- Anonymous
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I would love to see relationship levels between personal characters. That you can disagree or approve what they choose in dialoge if you are watching your friends choose dialog, instead of it showing what we would want to choose because it influences peoples choice.
- Anonymous
Due to the big difference in how you can specialise characters compared to another Larian game such as Divinity. It would only seem to make sense if they at least gave the option for a companion of each class.
Doesn't necesarily have to be easy to get them. Getting Nettie or another druid from the grove as a companion to save Halsin and then making your actions change or confrim their reasons for wanting to stay with you or leave.
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
All these companions seem lame and too "special" rather than authentic characters
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I feel like the game needs more good baseline companions, and more interesting wacky companions. Feel like all the companions hit an awkward niche, where they aren't completely basic, but also not too wacky. Just this kinda boring inbetween with no real substance, like they wanted to go out of the norm with them but got too scared midway through.
- Anonymous
The Companion Guide video for Gale is missing. The video there is a Custom Character Guide instead.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Where is the beautiful and evil female companions? Viconia please? Lae is ugly and unlikeable, and Shadowwhatever is bland and uninteresting, the males I hardly care as I wont be recruiting them anyway. The lack of quality female companions in this game is astonishing.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I feel like the companions here get a bad rap.
(And not just by the weirdo who disqualified his owned opinion by starting his comment with "NEEDS MORE BANGABLE SLUТS")
In game, their....fine. nothing amazing, but they're well written, well animated, and well acted enough to at least be like "Ok, we're stuck on this adventure together and I....don't want you to die."
- Anonymous
I am hoping like the other Baldur's gate games they will have a vast array of companions and give you quite a few options for romance. Baldur's Gate usually has a lot of different companions and the fact this one gives you a camp for them to hang at and switch out at, it makes a large cast even easier. Sure it will cost more money having voice actors for each character and the design of them but it is worth it for a true DND game. You should have a lot of options even in your companions.
- Anonymous
I'm not very happy with the companions so far. I'm dealing with it as it is, but I hope for better companions on the road to Baldur's Gate in future chapters. There is none, with whom I could imagine a romance for my character. Only two females limits the choices for a male player character anyway. Lae is ugly and I feel no sympathy for her. Shadowheart isn't very attractive for a half elf and looks rather mediocre. Additionaly she's difficult to manage and doesn't really fit into my playstyle, being a human fighter/mystic knight subclass with noble background, so that he isn't just a brutish warrior, but can also be eloquent, convince people and has got some knowledge. But I'm usually not avoiding fights against monsters - f.e. in blighted village, talking with goblins and avoiding a fight, makes no sense for me in a DD game. Shadowheart gets on my nerves with her secret-mongering and non-confrontional ways, I know being a priestress of Shar and such - maybe even unwillingly, but still, I don't warm up to her. I really hope for better companions in the future.
- Anonymous
I just hope we get more companions down the road when we reach Baldurs Gate, noninfected ones. Not to say these guys are bad, I love the fact you can tell them to piss off or downright kill them (both through action and inaction) but then you are left without options in your company build. By the time full release rolls out I hope we get more options.
I know alignments aren't really a thing in BG3, save the reactions from your companions so having at least 3 options to choose from every class would be grand. Not that your standing with them has any real impact on the game right now, you can even romance whoever you want, but constantly seeing my companions disagree with my choices because I'm roleplaying a certain character is annoying.
Good, Neutral and Evil is enough, we don't have to go into Lawful, Neutral / True, Chaotic because I can't even imagine how much work would go into the nuances of programming and writting.
Wishful thinking.
- Anonymous
I think Astarion is a good comic relief. Maybe add someone lighthearted and extremely chill. Think big Hawaiian dude chilling at the beach.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Who greenlit the "get your **** of the game" self insert, Gale? I would slap a fanfic author for writing that ****.
- Anonymous
For those that were curious about the weird stat distributions like I was, looking at each companion's stat distribution + racial bonuses, it would seem they are using the standard array for stats, which means they will always have a distribution of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8, just with racial bonuses added and positions swapped around.
If I want to personally play Wyll and want to be the face of my party what, if anything, would I change in this build?
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