Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3 are recruitable characters that can be added to aid your party. Unlike Companions, Hirelings do not have related Quests and interactions. Players can access the Hireling Selection page for pre-made Hirelings. There will be 12 Hirelings to choose from, each with a name, visuals, race and a short backstory. Hirelings will allow players to full customize their party members. Hirelings can be respecced at any time much like your characters even though they are pre-made.
What are Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3?
Hirelings are characters in Baldur's Gate 3 that can be recruited or hired and can then temporarily join your party. In addition to the Companions that can join your party, players can hire Hirelings. They are not as interactive as Origins or Companions, but each have their own name, visuals, and race. There are 12 Hirelings in the roster that can be recruited, this includes one per class.
How do you get Hirelings?
In order to access Hirelings, you need to be able to access Withers and be level 3. The mysterious Withers can be found in the Dank Crypt after clearing out his tomb and waking him up. Withers also gives characters access to Respec and perform a revive a resurrection spell. Withers just makes you pay in gold. Hirelings can then also be dismissed if they are no longer needed by speaking to Withers.
Baldur's Gate 3 Hirelings
Why Hire Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3
The use of having Hirelings to fill up the party is to replace any lost companions or to create a completely customized party. Since lost Companions cannot be brought back once they are lost, they can be replaced with Hirelings. Hire any combination of Hirelings including a Hireling party of all the same Class. This gives you additional options beyond the characters available from the Origins roster and gives you full control of the strengths and Classes in your party to create a customized party Build. If you prefer to, you can even have a full party of Hirelings.
Can Hirelings be Customized?
Each Hireling comes with a preset name, visual and Race. With the Magic Mirror update, these Hirelings can now be further customized except for their Race.
As of Patch #4, You can now customise hirelings' appearance when recruiting them.
Choosing a Hireling in Baldur's Gate 3?
When recruiting Hirelings, you will be able to choose from a roster of 12, one from each of the Classes. Filling your party up with Hirelings allows players to customize their party dynamic so they can be filled with one type of class. So it is possible to have a party entirely made of up Barbarians or a party of Fighters for example.
All Hirelings in Baldur's Gate 3
Eldra Luthrinn
Eldra Luthrinn, slayer of people, monsters, and cups of sweet pear tea, was shown a watery grave when hunting Absolutists in the valleys of the Chionthar.
Brinna Brightsong
Brinna Brightsong's bawdy crooning was silenced by an Absolute bloodbutcher after a controversial performance in a Triel tavern. on
Zenith Feur'sel
High Elf - Cleric (Selûne)
Zenith, once an optimistic Evereskan Graycloak, journeyed to Faerûn in search of a new sunrise. An Absolute warband proved his dour fatther right: Zenith was doomed!
Danton
Mephistopheles Tiefling - Druid
Danton was a refined druid and rearer of peacoks - until he thought transforming into one would help him escape Absolutist mauraders. He was wrong.
Varanna Sunblossom
Once a battle-worn veteran fighting for the Absolute, Varanna learnt that loyalty to the would-be god did not protect you from the murderous whims of jealous generals.
Sina'zith
Sina’zith’s monastic preferences marked her a misfit among her kin – as did the illithid tadpole an Absolutist forced in her mind. For this, the githyanki slew her as an aberration.
Kerz
Kerz lived many years as a paladin and mercenary, years. which took a hard toll on them. befriending a group of pleasant ogres, they laid down their weapon and taught a rudimentary etiquette class, before the ogres were attacked one night, and Kerz once more took up their steel.
Ver'yll Wenkiir
Ver’yll spent his twilights scribbling odes to leafy canopies, bushels, and the merits of the noble hedgehog. When he refused to join the Absolute, its forces tore his forest and body apart.
Maddala Deadeye
Maddala’s blindness was cured by another True Soul passing through her village – so they could watch it being burnt to the ground around them. Such was the price of refusing the Absolute.
Kree Derryck
Kree’s penchant for killing folk with a mere whisper was prized in the Absolute’s ranks, but the utter devotion to her patron was met with lethal disapproval.
Sir Fuzzlump
Sir Fuzzalump was much mocked amongst his playful kind for his dour demeanour and single-minded devotion to the magical investigation of cave moss. He claims not to have giggled in over a decade, and has never frolicked.
Anonymous
- Anonymous
I feel like having Varanna, Kree, and Minthara make for a great "bad guys" party, since all three worship(ped) the Absolute. If you do as well, that'd be a cool touch.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Place me on the bandwagon. There are pre-made characters already. Many older games allow custom parties.
I wrote something insanely long out of anger. But that isn't worth it.
IT CAN'T BE THAT HARD! FIX IT! Let player design their own party for God's SAKE!
- Anonymous
Gold Dwarf Barbarian (F) = Outlander
Lightfoot Halfling Bard (F) = Entertainer
High Elf Cleric (M) = Acolyte, knows Firebolt
Mephistopheles Tiefling Druid (M) = Folk Hero
Wood Half-Elf Fighter (F) = Soldier
Githyanki Monk (F) = Outlander
Half-Orc Paladin (M) = Noble
Lolth-Sworn Drow Ranger (M) = Criminal
Human Rogue (F) = Urchin
High Half-Elf Sorceror (M) = Guild Artisan, knows Firebolt
Duergar Warlock (F) = Charlatan
Rock Gnome Wizard (M) = Sage
- Anonymous
The mirror helps with the hirelings, but Larion is still missing the whole dang point. What if we want other hirelings with certain backgrounds? What if I want to make a male dwarf similar to Beast from DOS2 as a hireling? A female dragonborn? Heck, a dragonborn hireling at all?
We want CUSTOM hirelings, not editable premade companions. If I got my wish, the core companions would be editable and any hirelings would be built from the ground up.
The one and ONLY benefit I see from the current hirelings is that they were there for those who do not want to build something from scratch. That's fine, but the core companions already fix that.
- Anonymous
Thery patched out the Dragonborn Sorcerer Hireling Fafner for a generic human sorcerer
Dragonborn fans truely got ****ed
- Anonymous
Their appearance won’t saved if you dismiss the hireling after using magic mirror
- Anonymous
we can use the magic mirror on them now - it's time for a full harem squad my brethren.
- Anonymous
Anyone downvoting the comments who want to have fully customizable party members are just mad no one wants to pick Eldra.
- Anonymous
If you can make a party of the same class with the hirelings, does you hire 4 Maddala Deadeye by example or does it create new characters for further hirelings of the same class?
- Anonymous
They're good for many things such as abusing healing spells without resting or wardbonding from camp.
Also Kerz is the only Orc unless you make one and they have Savage Attacker.
Brinna being the only halfling in the game has lucky and can be made Bard/Wizard for Alchemy/Medicine potion crafting.
- Anonymous
Abusive Pros:
- You can cast "Warding Bond" and leaving them at camp to have 'Half damage at home' (they can die tho).
- You can use them to heal the party without resting inout
- You can use them to make jobs you wouldn't want to with anyone such as Brinna an half Bard/wizard Alchemist since she's a Halfling with Lucky
Race pros:
- Kerz is the only Half-Orc available unless you make one yourself, which would anyway make 2 Savage Attackers in your team. (and it might look cool to have 2 orcs)
- Fafner is the only Dragonborn available unless you make one yourself, same as Kerz, in case you want two dragons.
- Ver'yll Wenkiir is a Drow you can use to have an easier time with Goblins if you don't wanna get Minthara or use Disguise.
- Brinna and Fuzzlump can go into holes without needing Disguises
It's cute to mention they cover non-companion races.
Races not playable unless you make them yourselves are:
- Shield Dwarf
- 9/10s of the Dragonborns
- Deep Gnome
- Forest Gnome
- Strongheart Halfling
- Asmodeous Tiefling
- Seldarine Drow
- Drow Half-Elf
- Anonymous
Only Brinna and Zenith are usefull somehow, Varana (stealth + athletics) is too if you respec her.
I wish I could like Kree, always wanted to try out a duergar companion, but her cockroach tattoo and her background... crap
I get the idea that some lower Larian staff made their own custom characters for fun... So why can't we do the same?
- Anonymous
Great and all as step ins. But again Fafner the dragonborn not even given a background. Same for your Guardian, cant have dragonborn. Would also be neat to have a true dragonborn origin character and not just a official example for Dark Urge.. Dragonborns left in the dust in those aspects. And yes these following can be modded in but prefer official Larian made: Racial feats ( 2 each for all races ) from Xanathar, Gem dragonborns, gem dragon ancestries for draconic bloodline sorcerer ( Larian could easly homebrew in this ) and improved breath weapon from Fizbans. Dragonborns got curbed hard
- Anonymous
If I wanted premade characters, I would just get, you know, THE COMPANIONS
- Anonymous
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I have Varanna Sunblossom. I asked her to stay behind so I could invite another character and now I need her back but she won't join. I have the option to tell her "Follow me." or "Lets get back to work." but neither do anything.
- Anonymous
no male fighter or barbarian. want a male fighter or barbarian? F you. that's what you get. there are 2 fighters and 2 barbarians(companion and hirelings) and all 4 are female. not even 1 is male
- Anonymous
Either have only voiced (albeit not as fleshed out) unique minor companions or go full customisation. This is the worst of ***h worlds.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
So one of the only hirelings i can tolerate the look of and its a they them. ok... Kinda want to just make my own.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
So they patched out the previous way to make custom tavs. But for anyone interested in the new way to do it here ya go.
Fully close down steam so that you are logged out/it is offline. Now open your file explorerer > steam library > steamapps > common > Baldur's Gate 3 > bin > bg3_dx11. The file path may be a bit different if you customized the folders, but point is you wanna get to the bg3_dx11 file. Double click that to open up the main instance of the game, it should sync with cloud because there is no DRM (praise larian!). Now just start a new game and in the character creation screen hit escape and go to multiplayer, then enable LAN connections. Now go back to file explorer and open up more instances of the game from that bg3_dx11 file and click multiplayer, then join through LAN to fully customize your party.
Quick tip, fully customize each character before opening up another instance of the game to ensure you spend the least time with a bunch open, this can help your pc not have to work as hard for as long.
Something to note with this, these characters will count as player characters, this can lead to some individual repetitive dialogue/cutscenes. Main ones that come to mind are the dream guardian cutscenes, though there are some more.
Last thing to note, player characters can NOT be removed from the party. So if you decide to make 4 customized characters, be aware that you will NEVER be able to have a companion ever join your party, because you cannot dismiss anyone from your party. If you plan on completing any companion quests, maybe just go with 3 custom tavs and leave the 4th spot open for a companion.
Enjoy
- Anonymous
still cant understand why we need this afterall, i tought they are ai companion who fight along with us
- Anonymous
Lemme just join the club of complaining about this. I am not super against having preset characters. My only problem is that the hireling choices should have at least rounded out what wasn't available through companions. I would've much rather seen the options already available through companions replaced with something unavailable. Switch the human hireling out for a asmodeus tiefling. Switch the githyanki out for a deep gnome. Switch the high elf out for a shield dwarf. Then just add a strongheart halfling and a forest gnome... That would at least give us all the options. People could then tweak their builds through respec however they wanted. As far as customizing looks, yea I kinda agree, but it's less of a big deal for me.
- Anonymous
wish we had full customization for this lot - I've always wanted an army of midgets (tried doing it IRL but apparently child soldiers are frowned upon for some reason).
- Anonymous
Additional "Crazed" Hireling suggestion: At level 10 you can cycle through and respec each hireling to a cleric to allow it a one time use Divine Intervention. This can be used to get multiple Devoted Maces/Divine bounties with loads of potions and supplies to help blast through the endgame. Costs a fair bit of gold to respec/dismiss each hireline but is well worth it. This also allows you to save Divine Intervention on your party's actual Cleric for an encounter where you may want the full recharge or perhaps the big damage blast (great thing to save for endgame boss fights).
- Anonymous
"Since lost Companions cannot be brought back once they are lost, they can be replaced with Hirelings."
They absolutely CAN be brought back. The "Revivify" spell and scroll exist and DO work on them, even if they were not a part of your party.
- Anonymous
For those looking to get maximum usage out of your hirelings, here is your "Crazed" suggestion: Brinna Brightson, Zenith Feur'Zel, and Danton. I respec Brinna to change her stats/skills immediately, but the other two can be left basically factory. The goal and role of these hirelings (which IMO should be acquired as quickly as possible) is as follows:
Brinna will take role of dedicated group thief (and geared as such). As Hafling she gets her Hafling Lucky trait which mitigates a 1 roll. When combined with advantage either through gloves of thievery/cat's grace her ability to steal entire inventories is incredible. Early game acquisition of Smuggler Ring allows for really easy start since you can no risk repeat loot the Druid's grove, send her back to camp while your adventuring party does it's thing (without having taken the attitude shift from Brinna since she operates independently). Throughout entire game I used her to crack through all sorts of areas EASY since College of Lore bard is just as if not better than an actual Thief class IMO (thanks to spellscaster access/on par proficiency level). If you really want to milk her you can set her up to be a performer to try and rake in some extra coin that way. Lots of potential with Bard class that I didn't really explore in first playthrough. Having Brinna in your group also allows you to take extra short rests, since you can sub her out to use her Bard song to give some extra juice as you keep going through.
Zenith is meant to be your buffer/spell slot preserver. There are a number of very useful and beneficial cleric spells which last all day long but of course burn through those precious spell slots. Danton is also a supporter in this role, though his purpose has a secondary function which I'll get to in a bit. The main spells I have Zenith casting on the group are the cantrip Light (to provide melee characters with good visibility) as well as later on the Daylight spell to enchant items. Having Daylight in some of these ridiculously dark locations was honestly so helpful throughout the playthrough it was super handy. Protection from Poison is another good spell to try and cast on as many party members as possible to mitigate that damage type from the game almost in it's entirety (especially split between him and Danton). Sometimes it's good to keep a few slots for Prayer of Healing, since in certain situations you can teleport back to camp after a big fight, swap out to use the Prayer to Heal up, then put him back in camp. I usually respec him to Life Cleric for this reason since you get a little extra heal that way. If you want to get really fancy with him you can also respec him and turn him into a cleric tank to be able to "permanent bond" a character for the level 2 Warding Bond spell. He will still take damage/can die at camp, but if he's generally stronger than the character he's buffing he doesn't die too often.
Danton the Druid is meant to take Circle of the Land and he is meant to help flush out the druidic side of the equation. For starters, he can cast the ritual spell Longstrider on the entire team at no cost to his spell points. This will give everyone additional movement and you don't need to keep it slotted in any of your characters to keep the benefit of the spell since it lasts all day. Many of the spells I use with Danton overlap with Zenith but the main reason I use Danton second is because all excess spell slots as well as natural recovery charges get converted into goodberries. Once you've reached high enough level and depending on how much you want to use him for this purpose, you never need to worry about camp supplies again. By taking him early game, being able to offset your camp supplies with goodberries lets you focus your attention on picking up things that actually matter.
Generally at the start of a new day I will round up the team in a camp location and do the respective character swap/buffs/etc. Once everyone is ready to go I do the adventuring for the day, using Brinna to offset the load by providing those additional short rests via bard song. She will also help keep your thief kit levels high since you can also opt to send locked chests back to camp and have her use the spell Knock there instead of burning kits. You'll want as many kits as you can keep your hands on for when you reach act 3 as the DCs start to get significantly higher at that point and you need many more of them too. Shhh... WAY more locked goodies to try and get into ;) I trust my shady Bard Brinna to git'r'dun'.
I cannot understate Brinna's veratility as a "heist operator" and in first playthrough I had her avoid combat pretty well entirely. She let me unlock so much content so easily I was honestly shaking my head. Having Zenith and Danton as backup just made everything else so bloody simple. Shadowheart could dedicate her spell slots to fewer support role spells which really helped make a lot of combat enounters a lot simpler in itself. Not needing to worry about camp supplies from the get-go was also a great boon. Since you're doing the "morning ritual" it generally just ends with the goodberry swap and you leave Danton behind and pick up your 4th before heading out. Sometimes you'll be munching on those berries along the way. It's really really handy.
Basically, for 500 gold (since I do 2x Respecs for the Bard/Cleric, Danton I keep stock) you get SUPERB level thief that can easily recoup your "upstart cost" as well as provide extra longevity to the team. Side note: If you choose to either ignore/not encounter Astarion or potentially get rid of him for roleplaying purposes then I'd say having Brinna is even more essential for the group dynamic. She'll be at camp most of the time... But maybe after you've cleared the threats out of the dungeon is a good time for her to run through and unlock/find everything for you.
Having as many Light cantrips available is also very very very good. Between my Light cantrips and sunlight enchantments I honestly don't know how much hassle I dodged in act 2 as a result of having just literally good vision alone. These dungeons can get DARK and being able to properly see the environment helps a boatload. My character's darkvision is no substitute for an actual light source when it comes to be noticing details in the environment. Really helps spot traps and whatnot without needing to rely so hard on character perception checks.
Hope this has been helpful. To sum up: I love the hireling/respec/Withers system. I managed to get some GREAT use out of it and I hope you guys do too.
- Anonymous
why aren't we allowed to make 4 characters of the same race ?
- Anonymous
Backgrounds:
Sir Fuzz: Sage
Ver'yll: Criminal
Maddala: Urchin
Sina'zith: Outlander
Kree: Charlatan
Eldra: Outlander
Zenith: Acolyte
Danton: Folk Hero
Kerz: Noble
Jacelyn: Guild Artisian
Brinna: Entertainer
Varanna: Soldier
- Anonymous
Even older crpgs like Pillars let you customize the "custom" companions. Disappointed.
- Anonymous
Dang it why did they remove Fafner? There goes my plan of making a gaggle of oddballs as my party. Guess I'll just take Sir Fuzzlump then...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can make a group of 4 custom characters by starting the game 4 times and then joining your own multiplayer game. Once you start the game after character creation close the 3 other applications except the main one. Now enjoy a 4 custom character playthrough.
- Anonymous
Honestly? Those hirelings almost all look like total sh!t. Why put premade hirelings in if they have no individual dialouge and no story (no, seriously "was blind, got better, died" or "is warlock" is not a story Larian..) anyway? Total nonsense.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you revive a hireling that you told wither to take care of temporarily you wont be able to get them back anymore until you dismiss them. Kinda sad
- Anonymous
Please allow us to customize our party with the races and classes we want
- Anonymous
Wtf just allow us to make them from the ground up.
What is with Larian and their OC Doughnut Steele bs, same sh!t as DOS1
- Anonymous
where's fafner in game? did they remove the only dragonborn hireling from the game?
- Anonymous
It would be nice if they were fully customizable in regards to race and name and everything. Would allow drop-in/out multiplayer. Could save 12 of your friends characters as hirelings that they could then join your game and you could recruit to your team for them to play as each time.
- Anonymous
and the hireling in Fafners spot near as I can tell is Jacelyn - High Half-Elf Wild Magic Sorcerer
- Anonymous
Not sure why this information isn't available in-game before recruiting them (unless I'm missing it) but here are the backgrounds of each hireling, along with the proficiencies granted. Since their classes and abilities can be changed but their backgrounds can't, this might actually be a stronger factor in deciding which one you want for a given role.
Eldra Luthrinn - Outlander (Athletics & Survival)
Brinna Brightsong - Entertainer (Acrobatics & Performance)
Zenitha Feur'sel - Acolyte (Insight & Religion)
Danton - Folk Hero (Animal Handling & Survival)
Varanna Sunblossom - Soldier (Athletics & Intimidation)
Sina'zith - Outlander (Athletics & Survival)
Kerz - Noble (History & Persuasion)
Ver'yll - Criminal (Deception & Stealth)
Maddala Deadeye - Urchin (Sleight of Hand & Stealth)
Jacelyn - Guild Artisan (Insight & Persuasion)
Kree Derryck - Charlatan (Deception & Sleight of Hand)
Sir Fuzzalump - Sage (Arcana & History)
- Anonymous
Would be dope if the hireling system were improved in that when you hire you can choose what race and class you want your hireling to be, then it will be randomly created. That way we can at least choose what race and class combo they will have. That way we can hire infinite hirelings and as per the achievement, use them as cannon fodder, doing a playthrough as a "pacifist", letting them do all the heavy lifting.
- Anonymous
Big question here: can you change the sex, race, or body/face/features of these hirelings?
- Anonymous
Can you change the hirelings appearance, race, class, sex when you hire them?
- Anonymous
These things all look like random button jokes. Why cant we make our own?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This is the one area where i feel LArian has missed the point. We should be able to create full customisable parties, where we create the back story. Alas I feel this will never be implemented.
- Anonymous
Sad we don't have any halflings or gnomes in that list. I can see race & gender being locked due to their story, but I'm hoping we're allowed to customize their looks at least.
- Anonymous
Has Larian clarified if the Hirelings will be fully customizable, including their race, gender and appearance?
Why is every girl a cool stoic dead hero and all the guys are homer simpson elvel buffoons?
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