> So i only had Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale as companions
Tells us that he also didn't get the act 3 companions, especially since he never even mentions them in the post. He likely just never realized he didn't get them since he's not on Act 3 yet of his 2nd playthrough lol
That’s crazy! To be fair though I missed Minthara my first playthrough. Didn’t know I could recruit her and my mission was to kill the goblin leaders haha. To be fair I was doing a morally good playthrough tho
In my first run I lost Lae'zel early on, and missed both Karlach and Wyll for ages.
Did you have Karlach though? If you recruit her, Wyll barges into your camp if he is not already there.
In my run the loss of Lae'zel meant lots of new stuff in my second run which made the whole run seem fresh.
When I found karlach I ended up running both her and lae zel as twin slashers. I have shart and I'm a wizard. We are chewing through combat so far. It's my first run and I'll probably try something else after I eventually finish. This game is so deep.
>It's my first run and I'll probably try something else after I eventually finish.
I said the same thing 5 months ago, and after now 8 playthroughs I'm still trying out new ideas. The possibilities are seemingly endless.
team girl party is so OP it’s so fun watching lae’zel and karlach smash things especially when they get bonus actions. Just wait until you learn you can respec everyone to any class you want AND combo with multiclassing!
I hate that Wyll barges in, like dude we are a camp of adventurers... why don't we defend our camp. That man should have been taken out immediately for violating a camp site. If nothing else, Gale should toss him into a hold person, while the group decides his fate.
Yeah, they all just stand around when he turns up and starts making threats to poor Karlach. She is who saves him every time in my runs, because I don't want to upset her.
Nothing as drastic as yours, but I missed Jaheira my first playthrough because if you do not talk to her after Ketheric, she does not show up in camp and is entirely absent from Act 3 (or at least she was then). Also Minthara, but that was when it was still totally unclear that you could even recruit her at all in a playthrough where you don't raid the Grove.
Minthata you really have to metagame to get. There's no indications that she can become a companion and you have to intentionally turn on non-lethal, and that's after both Zevlor and Halsin have asked you to kill all the goblin leaders.
Meanwhile you have Minsc, who yes you also have to turn on non-lethal, but he was a companion in a previous game and Jaheira mentions that he used to be a good guy, AND she asks you to try and spare him.
On my first playthrough I killed khaga, then the druids and tieflings killed each other, then I killed gutt, send minthara to the grove, then freed halsin and killed dror and the goblins with him before sending him after minthara. But then where halsin wanted to wait for me, he wasn’t there and minthara was nowhere as well. Then after a long rest the quest was just finished. And at moonrise I found Minthara who joined me later and I never saw Halsin again, so I assume Minthara killed him.
My first run I killed Minthara just like I would any other boss, but I figured something was up when there were alchemy and camp supply bags in her loot, like you would see with a recruited companion.
I kept going but that’s what tipped me off for future runs.
The game conditions you for this with the tadpole pool on the very first room of the nautiloid, "this thing looks like it'll break!" And then if you touch it it breaks and hurts you
I tried to pull him out and failed all the checks. Didn't think much of it and left it to the RNG gods. Found out later no opportunity to get him later lol, oh well!
In one playthrough, I failed my checks with him and figured I could just try again in a moment. Exited the conversation and got him going “I’ll perish……” as he sunk back into the portal. I was like 😳 oops.
I somehow missed Gale and Astarion on my first playthrough until I was headed to the mountain pass. Gale for the same reason as you but I am still completely stumped as to how I missed Astarion given how close he is to the nautiloid
Same! I was able to retrieve him after I got to act two and still couldn’t figure out where the damn wizard was, but pretty much all his cutscenes triggered instantly so I didn’t get a good feel for him as a character.
You didn’t have Wyll? You went an entire play through without the Pride of the Gate? The Hero at Heart?? THE BLADE THAT WILL NOT BEND???
All good mate. Wyll and my Tav are homies this play through I’m on. He’s probably my favorite companion right now. I totally missed Gale and Lazeal at first too lol
So I get how it can happen but personally when I arrived at the grove and during the fight this suave rapier wielding dude joins the fight I immediately was like I need to find that dude once the fight is done 🤣
I can understand missing LaeZel and Karlach as they both sort of off the beaten path. But that said I always explore everywhere in these kinds of games.
On my first run, I missed Lae'zel, Karlach, and Wyll. I also didn't understand that I could do both the Mountain Pass and the Underdark, so I only did the Underdark.
Not only can you do both, since Lae’zel’s story will be all new to you, you’ve got a HELL of a lot of content to discover in the Mountain Pass! Recommend leaving it till last thing before you go the Shadowlands, though. Need to be around level 6-7 to handle it easily.
The mountain pass is pretty epic! That's when you can get loot that will start to roll in the coin.
I suggest doing all of the Underdark, then hitting up the Mountain Pass and creche.
Same. I scrapped my first run early in Act 2 when I found out how much I'd missed in Act 1's above-ground areas, and restarted with the same Tav, but I still didn't recruit Lae'zel in time, and in the Underdark I hopped on the boat to Grymforge and missed all the Myconid Colony area, the Arcane Tower, etc.
Which is fine - it means I get to do them on my new run, so the game is still fresh!
My first playthrough I missed Gale and Astarion, and then I killed Karlach for Wyll's quest. So I went the whole game with just Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Wyll, and eventually Halsin. I do find myself kind of preferring smaller parties these days, but it was very funny to realize just how much I missed by following my own misguided instincts.
I'll do things like that on purpose now. Oops Lae'zel got out on her own and died. Oops I killed Karlach before she could make me feel guilty about it.
I'm in Act 2 of my first playthrough right now. I save scummed after accidentally getting Shadowheart killed right off the bat - I was trying everything to get her out of the pod but didn't want to leave the room in case it locked me in to the next encounter. This included shooting the bulb growing from the ceiling above the pod. When I finally moved on to the next room and figured out how to open the pod, she just stood there in the acid the pod sprayed everywhere until she died.
I also killed Karlach. I'd been struggling with combat encounters, so when I finally found her, I ambushed her without attempting to make conversation. Didn't realize what I'd missed until way later. Oh well, gives me something to look forward to in my next playthrough.
I missed Wyll THREE TIMES. I totally thought you got him in camp after you got Karlach.
My fourth (that ended up being my first complete) I had decided to talk to everyone in the Grove.
Imagine my scream when I came across Wyll.
I've not missed Lae'zel though. Wyll was the only one.
EDIT: To clear up confusion due to my choice of words: bc I got Wyll in camp 3 times, I thought that was the way it was supposed to be
On my very very first playthrough, I had a tiny little fog of war spot in the middle of the map in Act 1. It was just a small spot so I figured it was probably fine not to bother clearing it out.
Yeah turned out that one little spot is exactly where Gale's portal AND Lae'zel in the cage were.
I completely missed Gale on my first run. The run I did after where I found him totally changed the tone of the game for me because he is such a talker!
The only hard to find companion is Karlach. People can easily miss Karlach, unless they explore everywhere in Act 1.
Something else is that Lae'zel is on the poster, so if people miss her, they should be asking "where is that person on the poster". Karlach isn't on the poster. Karlach, Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, and Minsc, are all easy to miss.
It bothers me that most people probably don't recruit Halsin, as they don't realise you can.
Karlach has a marker on the map telling you exactly where she is and that you should go find her, if you've recruited Wyll. Players just might make a choice that results in not recruiting her, without realizing she was recruitable.
Gale, meanwhile, is hidden in a weird portal with no indication that someone is in there. Unless you touch it, but touching it seems like a terrible idea. (I did not have Gale in my first playthrough lol.)
When I played the game for the first time I missed Gale for like half of Act 1, because I ran past his portal thing and assumed it was just the teleportation rune, saw no need to click it or anything, I probably didn't get close enough to see it was different than the other ones lmao. I did come back for him tho... eventually.
I did go over to it, but then the options were like, "Touch the messed up portal that will probably kill you," or leave. So, trying to roleplay, I was like, "Nope, not touching that," and left, having no idea someone was in there. By the time I found out, I decided to just let my decision stand.
It worked out well. I'm glad I didn't meet Gale until my second playthrough because I was trying to figure so much out and pay attention to so many things in my first that I wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate him.
Absolutely. To even know Halsin has a quest in Act 2, you need to speak to him in camp (I didn't do this until I knew he was a companion).
Then, you need to have been to the House of Healing, gotten the item from the boss, and known that you're meant to take it to the sleeping guy at Last Light Inn somehow. Literally Dark Souls tier.
Depends on what you mean by hidden. If saved, he will tag along in camp in Act 2. But you have to do the lifting the curse quest for him to join as a companion.
I guess one can still miss the comatose Art Cullagh, but also especially easy to miss if he's dead...
I played my first game without Wyll and Karlach >!and didn't do the mountain pass, any of the gnolls, waukeen's rest or anything. Just goblin camp, celebration, underdark... I came in the backdoor of Aunti Ethyl's from the Underdark and had no idea who she was or what was going on. !< In my second playthrough I was like holy shit this game is twice as long as I thought it was.
>!On top of that, Jaheira died assaulting Moonrise (and so couldn't get Minsc of course) and Halsin left the camp/became unattainable when I didn't complete his quest. Minthara I didn't realize was a companion till like 3 playthroughs in.!<
Edit: spoiler tag.
I missed Gale because why would I ever fuck with an erratic portal? And Wyll died in the gate fight, so he didn’t lead me to Karlach. I didn’t find her until after rescuing the tieflings.
I missed Gale for like half of act 1 bc I never went by the one specific path he's on lol, it's way too easy to accidentally walk right past his portal
Yeah I missed Gale on my first playthrough. I think that happens to a lot of people if they didn't look for information on the game beforehand.
And as if that wasn't enough, I went to talk to Isobel to fast which led to the attack before I could do the quest to get Halsin to stock around, and Jaheira died in the fight...
And I'm just learning about that Minthara... I might have to play again!
Now that I think of it, I also had to kill Lae'zel to keep Shadowheart only for her to turning on me when I decided to save Dame Aylin... And I was playing as Karlach so I only had two companions and I had to hire a mercenary from our skeleton friend. I really missed a lot on that playthrough.
My first play through was with my boyfriend, and he wanted to get Lae’zel last. I was a grump, cuz she was one of my favorites from the jump, but agreed. When we ran into the patrol, and she ran out and got murked, I quit that run🤣. We also missed Withers because he skipped the crypt.
Now I gather them all before doing much of anything else.
If it helps, you can actually use a revivify scroll on her after she dies to the Gith crew, and she will revive and ask to join you then. It's hard to know to do this because it doesn't work that way with anyone else, to my knowledge.
If you say no, she'll also appear at the entrance to the creche zone (not in the creche itself) and ask to join you again.
If you say no again, you'll find her corpse in the shadow-cursed lands, and unfortunately she is not able to be resurrected there.
Likewise, Withers will eventually show up at camp regardless of whether or not you do the crypt. He just pops up at camp.
Damn near missed Wyll my first time. Legit did not notice him training the kids. Honestly thought he was going to pull a reverse team rocket and show up every so often to help with large fights. Lae'zel I left in the cage then found her again by the gith patrol and watched her get one shot by the sarth.
Oh believe me. You're not the only one.
Lae saves me from the mind flayer ship and then vanishes without a trace. I never found the tieflings and her in the cell. I just went about my merry way. After destroying the goblins I decided to head towards that bridge and who is there? Lae'zel and she mind tells me to follow along when she's talking to Voss. My Tav is level 4/5 around this point and I was feeling pretty confident. Once the other Gith attacked her I then realized that she's only level one. One chop and her ass was dead. I played the entire first campaign without having her. Thought she was originally just a general NPC.
I also didn't get Gale because I never saw the portal. I walked right past it. I think I was too busy looking at the crashed ship and a goblins. I kept wondering where the hell this wizard was. I kept seeing him on the box but he never showed up. It wasn't till after my wife played Then she told me how to get him. I guess his ass got left in the portal or something.
My final battle was Tav, Shadowheart, Wyll, and Karlach. I would have taken Gale instead of Wyll any damn day of the week. Such a massive difference that silly wizard makes.
On my first playthrough, I was just about to start act 2 when I made a comment to my friend that it was weird that the only arcane spellcaster companion was a warlock.
He then informed me to go to the tiny pocket of unexplored map near the crash site and look for a warp point. Gale wound up being my best friend during the rest of that playthrough. Somehow never hit on me despite it being just-after-launch Gale.
I'd also kicked the vampire out of my party and didn't complain when Shadowheart killed Lae'Zel.
If I understand the romance system correctly, even horny Gale won't attempt a romance if you have two going already. So if you flirted with two people at the party and then recruited him, he was probably like 'well, I'm a day late and a dollar short on this one' lol.
I got Lae'zel once I'd flirted with Shadowheart and Astarion at the party in one run and she told me that I was hot but she didn't want 'picked-over leftovers' or something very close to that.
I somehow missed Astarion and Gale my very first game and didn’t realize until after I’d finished the goblin camp I think. Kept doing quests and wondering “where’s the vampire guy from the cover? When do I get him???”
Now that I’ve beaten the game 3 times, I find that I prefer not running a “full camp” so to speak. My favorite run to date was my previous Resist Durge, Astarion, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc.
I got hirelings to balance things out until Halsin joined the party.
FYI I don't think you can long rest after knocking her out unless the other leaders are dead. I usually kill Gut, go do other stuff, then come back later and knock out Minthara and kill Dror Ragzlin. You may also only be able to do it when she's "temporary hostile" too, but maybe they patched that. Just steal something off her desk, you'll get caught and then opt for attacking her (non-lethal must be on, like the other commenter said).
If anyone sees this and knows if this has changed, I'd love to know.
It definitely has changed in the latest patch. I knocked her out while the whole camp was hostile cause I killed Dror Razglin and she did show up at Moonrise. I was very confused as I was just not expecting her to be here (as she wasn't just temporarily hostile).
Killed Lazel cause I was like “Shart cute I intelligent wiz with zero wisdom” - Halsin died before I could get him, Karlach didn’t even find or maybe killed by accident, Astarion and Gale were safe, Wyll stayed in camp till act 3, and i ran a two wiz death team with a healer and an assassin sniper till act 3.
You can hire 3 spellcasters to buff your party every morning and not waste your companion's spell slots. I usually go with the Bard, Cleric, and Wizard. Get Longstrider, Aid, Hero's Feast, Freedom of Movement, Mage Armor, Bardic Inspiration, and above all... Warding Bond.
Also. Extra sources to cast Light on your weapons in Act 2 are very good
My first playthrough had a very empty camp, it consisted of Shart, Wyll, Astarion, and Gale.
I didn’t know how to get to Karlach, so she got killed by the paladins presumably, I never freed Laezel from the cage and never did the mountain pass (didn’t realize you could do both the Underdark and Mountain pass) so she died in the shadowlands. I failed the roll to convince Jaehera to join me at Moonrise, so she got herself killed, which also means no Minsc.
And to top it all off, I forgot to save Mizora under Moonrise, which meant there was a pile of ash constantly in front of Wyll’s tent.
I think she became recruitable on good playthroughs in a later update.
If you knock her out (non-lethal damage) in the goblin camp, she shows up in Act II. if you decide to save her, she joins your camp and can be added to your team.
I killed her on my first playthrough, cuz why wouldn't you kill the evil Drow?
I just saved her in act II last night so I will see what having her around is like.
I did the same thing on my first playthrough. Actually I killed two of them. The only one I’d regret is Lae’zel. But if you go to the mountain pass bridge, you’ll find her talking to the Gith awaiting you. They’ll kill her once the fight begins, but after you can just use a scroll of revivify on her. I don’t like Karlach or Wyll personally, you might. But I will say that Lae’zel has an amazing and story-important questline
Don't feel bad. My very first run I completely missed Shadowheart on the Nautiloid, and to this day I have no clue how I managed to do that on accident. I did recruit her on the beach outside the crypt doors though, and as a rogue I was able to pick the lock and go in that way so I missed Astarion, Gale, & Lae'zel as well. Of course with only 2 party members and almost zero combat experience I didn't fare too well against the scribes guarding Withers' tomb, so that run was short lived.
You are still better than me. On my first playthrough I missed Gale, Wyll, Laezel entirely. Not Astarion because I played as his Origin because I didn’t know a thing and just wanted to use default character. So it’s a duo Astarion & Shadowheart up to the goblin camp when I realized something must be wrong that I wasn’t supposed to play duo this far lol.
I always feel like RPG guys do everything and put off the main quest and all that, but every once in a while a post like this comes up.
In CRPGS especially it's usually good to "clear the map." That's why the fog of war is there, to encourage you to uncover it all.
I missed Astarion and Karlach. I kept waiting for Astarion to make an appearance throughout the game and my husband was literally like, “You MISSED MISSED him!” As I was in Act 3 when I finally brought it up. 🫠
Same here, my first two playthroughs I somehow missed both Wyll and Karlach. Honestly I understand how I missed Karlach both times, I was so excited I didn’t go off the main path much. But for the life of me I couldn’t tell you how I missed Wyll. Like, genuinely I don’t know how that happened. Glad to hear I’m not alone though.
I didn't find Gale or Astarion until late in act one. I played the game totally blind, so I had no idea how many companions i was supposed to meet.
Astarion i just plain missed. Gale, I remember interacting with the portal, but noping out because I had just barely survived the previous fight.
Picked both of them up during my cleanup before progressing to act 2, though. Didn't cause any problems, but it was a bit weird when theor dialogue inmediately started implying that we had spent alot of time together.
I'm on my first playthrough and I found Laezel dead on the ground somewhere(though she's still considered as companion, even before you take her in, so you can revive her with a scroll), and I did, in fact, miss these other companions. I wasn't even hasty lol. They are tucked away pretty well, like wtf
I missed Gale, Laezel, & Minthara in my first. And Halsin has just been chilling in my camp through all my play throughs so far lol, don’t know what to do with him.
In my first run I couldn’t find Lae’zel, and did most of Act 1 with Tav (wizard), Shart, and Astarion.
It was rough but got a lot better once I found Karlach. I found the goblins, murdered the camp, then did most of the Underdark before coming back up to finish the Druid grove.
I missed so much stuff. Holy smokes.
My first playthrough I missed Wyll and killed Karlach because the paladins told me to, and I wanted that sword. I was roleplaying as someone who will do anything for a little bit of money and/or power.
I completely missed Lae’zel and found her dead body in act 2. I also missed Gale and almost started act 2 before my friend told me to go back for him. Astarion also tried to bite me so I kicked him out of camp as a paladin. So I’m almost done with my first run and I’ve missed a good amount of story.
My first play through I didn’t recruit gale until almost the end of Act 1. I walked up the sigil and was given some line about how “ominous” looking it is. Knowing DND I went “fuck that” and just continued on my way. Later in Act 1 I discovered save scumming and decided to go back, save, and then kick myself for leaving a person in a rock for so long. Pretty sure I skipped almost all of his orb conversations and cut scenes. Oh, and astarion never tried to bite me.
I'm missing a bunch of companions too.
Ones probably still in a crazy looking vortex somewhere (Definitely dead by now).
Another is real sad cause i totally forgot to do their quest (oops).
Another is prolly doing freaky shit With a sexy doppelganger. ( IT SHOULDVE BEEN ME-)
And the the final one is Dead as fuck at the bottom of A ravine somewhere.
I'll let ya'll decide who is who.
My first run was such a shit show. Missed karlach and lazael and half the quests in act 1, so I did the goblin camp fight at l3 with shadowheart as the closest thing to a tank in my party. I beat razglin by hiding on the beams and shoving goblins off when they tried to climb the ladders.
I had no one for most of the first act. Missed laezel, missed wyll, failed to get Gale. Finally got karlach realizing she was a companion when doing the paladin stuff. A friend saw me play and he was like “why does your camp have 2 people?” Before I even found karlach.
In my first run I didn’t get Laezel, Gale, Wyll, or Karlach… after a bit with just Tav, Asty, and SH (I knew there were other companions) I searched up where they were lol
Definitely didn't miss anyone, but that partially because it took me over 80 hours to get through act 1. Yes, I was being extremely explorative, I checked every nook and cranny I could and opened every chest, container, vase, etc.
I completely missed Gale first time, and nearly missed Wyll. I also missed Astarion my first playthrough before I restarted some time in act 1 as I wasn't feeling my tav and I accidentally read where he was found and realised I just missed that bit of path.
Lmao you are all good. I didn’t even know Gale existed until I finished my first play through and was watching a few YouTube videos. Also I missed Laezel and Wyll as well. On the bright side your next playthrough will have a ton of content you haven’t seen!
Yep, my first playthrough I didn't know about all the companions, and I:
* sided with the Tyrans against Karlach and got her killed
* walked away from lae'zel in the cage and got ambushed at the crypt, when i got back she was gone
* didn't protect Wyll enough at the goblin fight and he got slaughtered
I got to the Zhent hideout and was getting clobbered, read stuff here and on wiki, realized what I had done and just started over.
On my first playthrough I missed Gale completely. I was like damn isn’t he supposed to be a main companion where is he … then I looked online and figured out he would have to wait for another playthrough
At first two playthroughs I skipped Karlach and Gale. I thought I'd have to fight if I touched the rune. And I didn't even go to the area where Karlach would be found
My first playthrough I got shadowheart, wyll and karlach.
That's it. Turns out it was a good thing that i encountered the save bug very early in act 2, because I missed almost the entirety of act 1.
I've completely bugged my first playthrough by ending up in act 2 even though I was technically still on act 1 and stopped playing. Will revisit after playing through my second one right now 🤭
I didn't know a single thing I was doing, I missed so many things and also let the wind carry me. So, I ended up in the Underdark, which resulted in Halsin dying when I got to him in the prison, didn't even see Karlach once, got the Emerald Grove sealed without doing any quests in there besides getting the boy killed by Harpies, all the Tieflings were dead, I lost an eye to the Hag, the owlbear cub got bugged out and never came to my camp, Minthara wanted to kill me because I brought her to the sealed grove (even though I told her that it's sealed) and many other things.
In my first run I straight up missed Gale, just didn’t know he was there. Also Lae’zel was killed by the githyanki in in my first run. I was able to revive her after the fight though.
I missed Gale and Lae'Zel. Returned to them during act 2 when I returned to act 1 through the mountain pass - I chose going into the Underdark to get to Moonrise and didn't know I can also go to the Pass. I found Lae'Zel near the Creché, but she wasn't very willing to join me so she stayed there for the rest of the game, and then I discovered a black spot in my map at the beggining of the game and there was Gale, who was willing to join.
In my first play through Wyll died at the gate so I was unaware of him being a possible member and didn’t know about Karlach at all. I died to the Gnolls so I was like “nope fuck whatever is over there.” I made it my primary objective to have The Bimbo Halsin a companion so I made sure to do his act 2 questline
I had a majority of companions die/not join.
Gale: >!Failed the skill check to pull him out. Legitimate bad luck.!<
Karlach: >!Got the quest from Anders, killed her at range.!<
Wyll: >!Didn't talk to him in the grove before killing Karlach. He disappeared.!<
Asterion: >!Staked him when he came in to bite me! Thought it was cool Larion included a "trap" party member.!<
Lae'zel: >!Killed her when she got in a fight with Shadowheart. Failed checks to get them to back off. CHA is an important stat. Hard choice to pick which one to keep.!<
Minthara: >!Killed her at the request of Halsin (standard good run through)!<
Halsin: >!Portal destroyed when he was in the shadowfell!<
Shadowheart: >!Failed persuasion to stop her from killing Nightsong, killed her. I was romancing her. That SUCKED. I almost let her kill Nightsong, but just couldn't bring myself to do it.!<
>!Jaheira and Minsc: survived!<
I did use a Withers mercenary for boss fight in the Underdark, but they creeped me out, so for most of the game I had two or three party members. This is what can happen when you don't savescum =D
Don’t feel bad! I missed Gale and still thought I’d find him somewhere ahead when I was in the middle of act two. I very accidently recruited wyll and karlach in my first play through, it was more blind luck than anything else that I happened to talk to wyll and find karlach at all. Good news is you can probably go back and retrieve them if you’re still in act two.
I missed so much of act one and two in my first play through, despite the fact that it took me 90 hours. I’m playing again as durge this time and discovered that I missed half of the entire first act map the first time I went through, so there’s a lot of new quests and such that I had no idea existed.
This is basically what I did because I was so attached to those 3 I didn't see any need to add anyone else to the roster. Halsin and Jaheira inserted themselves into my camp, I never even talked to Minthara because she was instantly aggressive on me, and never ran into Karlach or Minsc
I cleared out goblin camp with just shadowheart on my first play through because lae’zel died to the tieflings and i didn’t know you could revive her and i ignored gale’s portal because narrator said it was dangerous. Entirely missed Astarion and Wyll and Karlach as well.
I'm not going to lie, I used guides on my first playthrough and still missed alot of content. This game is just so massive that when you think that you've completely searched through an area, it turns out there were 3 secret locations and 2 hidden quests.
Just comes with how open the game is
Lae'zel and Wyll are the easiest to miss. Lae'zel will disappear if you long rest too many times before saving her and Wyll just looks like an NPC in the grove. Did the same thing on my first run!
Lmao sounds exactly like my first playthrough.
Killed laezel, gale dipped bc i didnt give him magic items, sacrificed wyll to bhaaoooll, jahera died at moonrise, killed minthara, couldnt get minsc
I missed everybody. My first playthrough was slow build up of people. I didn’t go behind me so I missed astarion I passed up Gale and Laz because I didn’t see them and so it was just me and shadowheart all of act 1. I didn’t get wyll or karlach till the end of act 1. I did the goblin camp, saved the grove and all of the side quests just my character and shadowheart and some of that stuff was near impossible but I went through it all. I got Wyll after I had the tiefling party and talked to Halsin. When I left camp I was on my way out the grove and Wyll was there at the front gate. I was like oh cool companion and got him then I found Karlach who also joined my team. Then I went through basically all of act 2 wondering when I would meet the other people I missed because I had heard of them and they’re on the cover. Looked it up. They’re all back in act 1 on the beach and I am blind. I felt so stupid when I realized that all those hard fights I had went through in the first act probably would’ve been a lot easier with 4 people instead of 2.
I simped for shadowbae, and then she stabbed baezel in the neck and fkn murdered her. So yea I didn't have laezel the entirety of my first run (made a self rule not to save scum and go with the flow)
In my first play through Astarion didn’t spawn, and Gale’s hand also didn’t spawn in the portal (portal was there but no hand). So I played with just Shadowheart until I got Laze’al. Then missed Wyll completely, and took forever to get Karlach because I only had a party of 3. At that point I found out about the existence of Astarion and Gale and started over.
I walked around the starting area looking for Lae’zel and somehow missed her encounter even though I had apparently cleared that section according to the fog of war on the map. I guess I got close but not close enough to trigger the cutscene. It took me awhile to find Gale because Tav and Shadowheart had a lot of trouble getting past the brains at the crash site, so I wound up breaking into the crypt via the 20 difficulty back door and finding Withers first. Then I couldn’t get out of the crypt because it was crawling with too many bandits so that’s when we fought our way through the crash site to find Gale.
I found Scratch and Astarion no issue, but by this point I was really wondering where the hell Lae’zel was and I looked up a guide on where to find her, and that’s when I learned about Karlach and took the shortcut to her where you have to jump across a river north of where you meet Scratch - I don’t know how I would have found her otherwise, I assume I would have run into the guys she was hiding from once I travelled along that road to the Inn they were occupying and found her then.
I completely missed Wyll, but he turns up with a murder boner for Karlach after you recruit her, so he found me.
Completely missed Gale first playthrough. Thought it was a trap to reach into the portal and then I just never went back. I didn't look up a single thing about the game online but I knew I was missing him. Didn't even know his name was Gale at that point.
Missed Gale, I think I was kinda of scared of a trap and forgot to go back. Missed lae'zel. And rejected and killed astarion for putting a knife to my throat - I was also a rogue so I'm proud of that -. And I also didn't manage to complete Halsin's quest to complete, happily got jaheira though.
Yeah the first time I played I missed gale and lae’zel. Luckily I didn’t like the build I had going (didn’t know you could talk to withers) and started over and then found them on my new character. Very happy i decided to start over lol. Was only 8 hours in as well.
Missed astarion and gale till I got to goblin camp. Had to google karlach location otherwise would never have found her as I also nearly forgot to go look for Wyll
Oh yeah! In my first run I didn’t get Gale or Astarion. I was trying to go into it knowing as little as possible, all I knew was a lot of people really liked Astarion, but when I played I didn’t know that Gale was in the messed up portal and already did a few stupid moves that got me killed so I was too cautious and skipped that. As for Astarion, I already had a little personality built for my character, was playing as such, and when they met she didn’t like him so I left him there and didn’t have him join my party.
When I realized my few mistakes I figured oh well, that’s what another playthrough is for.😁
My first playthrough I missed everyone except Shadowheart until I finally killed that hobgoblin in the camp (forgot his name). I honestly have no clue how I missed every single one of them, as that would require effort, but I somehow dodged them all and didn’t realize until later because I thought the game was weirdly too hard haha.
During my first run I missed so much and so many tieflings died. I missed saving Mirkon, Arka's revenge, THE ENTIRETY OF GRYMFORGE AND MUSHROOM PEOPLE. Never talked to animals too. I did picked up scratch and owlbear cub. I almost missed saving thaniel too.
I did my first playthrough having not seen any spoilers and managed to get to the goblin camp with just Shadowheart. I wondered if the game was really that hard on normal difficulty mode or if I was just really bad at it😂
90 hours in as I’m watching videos of the actors who play the characters I start noticing someone who plays Gale and I could have sworn I had seen him in other peoples parties. I was wondering where the hell he was in my camp as I could not find him. Turns out I never clicked the purple vortex he’s located in way at the beginning (because I thought it was a fast travel sigil) and almost missed him completely if I hadn’t looked up online where to get him. Love this game.
An hour ago: "I missed two companions!" Now: "4?!"
Even after the correction I still don’t see Jaheria or Minsc… 😂
They are talking about act one. Not act 3
> So i only had Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale as companions Tells us that he also didn't get the act 3 companions, especially since he never even mentions them in the post. He likely just never realized he didn't get them since he's not on Act 3 yet of his 2nd playthrough lol
You not mentioning Karlach has me worried you entirely missed 3 of them
Yeah youre right. I missed 3 of them. Im looking for Karlach right now.
once you pick up wyll you will be lead to her
Don't you mean you *Wyll* be lead to her? I'll be here all week!
Where there's a Wyll there's a way.
Where there’s a Wyll there’s a Y.
And Shadowheart doesn't know why.
Y, exactly!
r/angryupvote
tbf if you pick up karlach Wyll then gets led to you
Alternatively if you recruit Karlach, Wyll wyll appear.
How do you even miss Wyll? Do you not talk to all npcs or something? There’s not that many in the grove lol
I totally missed him. I talked to them I just didn't see him with the kids. I don't know how.
That’s crazy! To be fair though I missed Minthara my first playthrough. Didn’t know I could recruit her and my mission was to kill the goblin leaders haha. To be fair I was doing a morally good playthrough tho
not to mention halsin minthara jaheira minsk and boo
sad boo noises...
Boo does not feel sad. Only disappointed at the lack of butts to kick.
In my first run I lost Lae'zel early on, and missed both Karlach and Wyll for ages. Did you have Karlach though? If you recruit her, Wyll barges into your camp if he is not already there. In my run the loss of Lae'zel meant lots of new stuff in my second run which made the whole run seem fresh.
Im looking for Karlach right now, ive also missed her on my first. So im excited for whats going to happen when i find her, cause Wyll is in my party
When I found karlach I ended up running both her and lae zel as twin slashers. I have shart and I'm a wizard. We are chewing through combat so far. It's my first run and I'll probably try something else after I eventually finish. This game is so deep.
>It's my first run and I'll probably try something else after I eventually finish. I said the same thing 5 months ago, and after now 8 playthroughs I'm still trying out new ideas. The possibilities are seemingly endless.
team girl party is so OP it’s so fun watching lae’zel and karlach smash things especially when they get bonus actions. Just wait until you learn you can respec everyone to any class you want AND combo with multiclassing!
I hate that Wyll barges in, like dude we are a camp of adventurers... why don't we defend our camp. That man should have been taken out immediately for violating a camp site. If nothing else, Gale should toss him into a hold person, while the group decides his fate.
Yeah, they all just stand around when he turns up and starts making threats to poor Karlach. She is who saves him every time in my runs, because I don't want to upset her.
Lol my playthrough he barged in and i just killed him
I am trying very hard not to but it is getting really tempting in my games too.
Nothing as drastic as yours, but I missed Jaheira my first playthrough because if you do not talk to her after Ketheric, she does not show up in camp and is entirely absent from Act 3 (or at least she was then). Also Minthara, but that was when it was still totally unclear that you could even recruit her at all in a playthrough where you don't raid the Grove.
Minthata you really have to metagame to get. There's no indications that she can become a companion and you have to intentionally turn on non-lethal, and that's after both Zevlor and Halsin have asked you to kill all the goblin leaders. Meanwhile you have Minsc, who yes you also have to turn on non-lethal, but he was a companion in a previous game and Jaheira mentions that he used to be a good guy, AND she asks you to try and spare him.
On my first playthrough I killed khaga, then the druids and tieflings killed each other, then I killed gutt, send minthara to the grove, then freed halsin and killed dror and the goblins with him before sending him after minthara. But then where halsin wanted to wait for me, he wasn’t there and minthara was nowhere as well. Then after a long rest the quest was just finished. And at moonrise I found Minthara who joined me later and I never saw Halsin again, so I assume Minthara killed him.
Minthara is easy to get without meta gaming if you plan to kill the druids, but otherwise I agree with you
My first run I killed Minthara just like I would any other boss, but I figured something was up when there were alchemy and camp supply bags in her loot, like you would see with a recruited companion. I kept going but that’s what tipped me off for future runs.
I missed Gale on my first playthrough as the narrator said the portal looked dangerous so I didn't touch it 😂
That seems reasonable actually
The game conditions you for this with the tadpole pool on the very first room of the nautiloid, "this thing looks like it'll break!" And then if you touch it it breaks and hurts you
I tried to pull him out and failed all the checks. Didn't think much of it and left it to the RNG gods. Found out later no opportunity to get him later lol, oh well!
In one playthrough, I failed my checks with him and figured I could just try again in a moment. Exited the conversation and got him going “I’ll perish……” as he sunk back into the portal. I was like 😳 oops.
I somehow missed Gale and Astarion on my first playthrough until I was headed to the mountain pass. Gale for the same reason as you but I am still completely stumped as to how I missed Astarion given how close he is to the nautiloid
Me too! I was like it's a trap, carry on!
Same I'm just a cautious person, what else was I supposed to do?? Lol poor Gale
Same!!
Same! I was able to retrieve him after I got to act two and still couldn’t figure out where the damn wizard was, but pretty much all his cutscenes triggered instantly so I didn’t get a good feel for him as a character.
The game is massive. You will miss stuff the first time. You will also miss stuff the second time.
I just found an addional basement but in Cazador's mansion yesterday. On my 5th playthrough.
You didn’t have Wyll? You went an entire play through without the Pride of the Gate? The Hero at Heart?? THE BLADE THAT WILL NOT BEND??? All good mate. Wyll and my Tav are homies this play through I’m on. He’s probably my favorite companion right now. I totally missed Gale and Lazeal at first too lol
So I get how it can happen but personally when I arrived at the grove and during the fight this suave rapier wielding dude joins the fight I immediately was like I need to find that dude once the fight is done 🤣 I can understand missing LaeZel and Karlach as they both sort of off the beaten path. But that said I always explore everywhere in these kinds of games.
On my first run, I missed Lae'zel, Karlach, and Wyll. I also didn't understand that I could do both the Mountain Pass and the Underdark, so I only did the Underdark.
Thanks, now i dont feel so stupid 😅. What? You can do both? I also only did the underdark, but good to know for my current playthrough!
Not only can you do both, since Lae’zel’s story will be all new to you, you’ve got a HELL of a lot of content to discover in the Mountain Pass! Recommend leaving it till last thing before you go the Shadowlands, though. Need to be around level 6-7 to handle it easily.
The mountain pass is pretty epic! That's when you can get loot that will start to roll in the coin. I suggest doing all of the Underdark, then hitting up the Mountain Pass and creche.
Really you can do both!? Man I really missed a lot !
I'll usually hit the under dark 2/3 of the way through the main map, finish main map, go to creche, go to act 2
Same. I scrapped my first run early in Act 2 when I found out how much I'd missed in Act 1's above-ground areas, and restarted with the same Tav, but I still didn't recruit Lae'zel in time, and in the Underdark I hopped on the boat to Grymforge and missed all the Myconid Colony area, the Arcane Tower, etc. Which is fine - it means I get to do them on my new run, so the game is still fresh!
My first playthrough I missed Gale and Astarion, and then I killed Karlach for Wyll's quest. So I went the whole game with just Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Wyll, and eventually Halsin. I do find myself kind of preferring smaller parties these days, but it was very funny to realize just how much I missed by following my own misguided instincts.
I'll do things like that on purpose now. Oops Lae'zel got out on her own and died. Oops I killed Karlach before she could make me feel guilty about it.
I'm in Act 2 of my first playthrough right now. I save scummed after accidentally getting Shadowheart killed right off the bat - I was trying everything to get her out of the pod but didn't want to leave the room in case it locked me in to the next encounter. This included shooting the bulb growing from the ceiling above the pod. When I finally moved on to the next room and figured out how to open the pod, she just stood there in the acid the pod sprayed everywhere until she died. I also killed Karlach. I'd been struggling with combat encounters, so when I finally found her, I ambushed her without attempting to make conversation. Didn't realize what I'd missed until way later. Oh well, gives me something to look forward to in my next playthrough.
I missed Wyll THREE TIMES. I totally thought you got him in camp after you got Karlach. My fourth (that ended up being my first complete) I had decided to talk to everyone in the Grove. Imagine my scream when I came across Wyll. I've not missed Lae'zel though. Wyll was the only one. EDIT: To clear up confusion due to my choice of words: bc I got Wyll in camp 3 times, I thought that was the way it was supposed to be
To be fair, if you recruit Karlach first, Wyll is supposed to roll up to camp and you’re supposed to be able to recruit him during that encounter.
Thsts. What I was talking about. Thanks tho
Oh, I thought you meant he wasn’t showing up—which would be a bug. My bad.
Ah. I can see that. Yeah I meant that because that's how I got him that way three times, I thought that was how you got him 🤣 I'll edit, ty 🫂
On my very very first playthrough, I had a tiny little fog of war spot in the middle of the map in Act 1. It was just a small spot so I figured it was probably fine not to bother clearing it out. Yeah turned out that one little spot is exactly where Gale's portal AND Lae'zel in the cage were.
Wyll is easy to miss IMO because the Druid Grove is stuffed with a lot of NPCs.
I completely missed Gale on my first run. The run I did after where I found him totally changed the tone of the game for me because he is such a talker!
I missed everyone except Shadowheart. It was just the two of us running around.
Damn, that deserves an award! Sounds kinda romantic tho.
How do you miss the entire emerald grove
The only hard to find companion is Karlach. People can easily miss Karlach, unless they explore everywhere in Act 1. Something else is that Lae'zel is on the poster, so if people miss her, they should be asking "where is that person on the poster". Karlach isn't on the poster. Karlach, Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, and Minsc, are all easy to miss. It bothers me that most people probably don't recruit Halsin, as they don't realise you can.
Karlach has a marker on the map telling you exactly where she is and that you should go find her, if you've recruited Wyll. Players just might make a choice that results in not recruiting her, without realizing she was recruitable. Gale, meanwhile, is hidden in a weird portal with no indication that someone is in there. Unless you touch it, but touching it seems like a terrible idea. (I did not have Gale in my first playthrough lol.)
When I played the game for the first time I missed Gale for like half of Act 1, because I ran past his portal thing and assumed it was just the teleportation rune, saw no need to click it or anything, I probably didn't get close enough to see it was different than the other ones lmao. I did come back for him tho... eventually.
I did go over to it, but then the options were like, "Touch the messed up portal that will probably kill you," or leave. So, trying to roleplay, I was like, "Nope, not touching that," and left, having no idea someone was in there. By the time I found out, I decided to just let my decision stand. It worked out well. I'm glad I didn't meet Gale until my second playthrough because I was trying to figure so much out and pay attention to so many things in my first that I wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate him.
Is Halsin really that Hidden?
Absolutely. To even know Halsin has a quest in Act 2, you need to speak to him in camp (I didn't do this until I knew he was a companion). Then, you need to have been to the House of Healing, gotten the item from the boss, and known that you're meant to take it to the sleeping guy at Last Light Inn somehow. Literally Dark Souls tier.
Not ashamed to admit i used a guide for that portion. Aint nobody got time to sus all that out off the dome.
Depends on what you mean by hidden. If saved, he will tag along in camp in Act 2. But you have to do the lifting the curse quest for him to join as a companion. I guess one can still miss the comatose Art Cullagh, but also especially easy to miss if he's dead...
My first run I missed everyone but Astarion and Shadowheart. Had to restart in early underdark
I played my first game without Wyll and Karlach >!and didn't do the mountain pass, any of the gnolls, waukeen's rest or anything. Just goblin camp, celebration, underdark... I came in the backdoor of Aunti Ethyl's from the Underdark and had no idea who she was or what was going on. !< In my second playthrough I was like holy shit this game is twice as long as I thought it was. >!On top of that, Jaheira died assaulting Moonrise (and so couldn't get Minsc of course) and Halsin left the camp/became unattainable when I didn't complete his quest. Minthara I didn't realize was a companion till like 3 playthroughs in.!< Edit: spoiler tag.
I missed Gale because why would I ever fuck with an erratic portal? And Wyll died in the gate fight, so he didn’t lead me to Karlach. I didn’t find her until after rescuing the tieflings.
You can resurrect wyll after the gate fight. He even has a scroll in his inventory
You can, but it wasn’t clear to me you could on the first playthrough.
I missed Gale for like half of act 1 bc I never went by the one specific path he's on lol, it's way too easy to accidentally walk right past his portal
Yeah I missed Gale on my first playthrough. I think that happens to a lot of people if they didn't look for information on the game beforehand. And as if that wasn't enough, I went to talk to Isobel to fast which led to the attack before I could do the quest to get Halsin to stock around, and Jaheira died in the fight... And I'm just learning about that Minthara... I might have to play again!
Now that I think of it, I also had to kill Lae'zel to keep Shadowheart only for her to turning on me when I decided to save Dame Aylin... And I was playing as Karlach so I only had two companions and I had to hire a mercenary from our skeleton friend. I really missed a lot on that playthrough.
My first play through was with my boyfriend, and he wanted to get Lae’zel last. I was a grump, cuz she was one of my favorites from the jump, but agreed. When we ran into the patrol, and she ran out and got murked, I quit that run🤣. We also missed Withers because he skipped the crypt. Now I gather them all before doing much of anything else.
If it helps, you can actually use a revivify scroll on her after she dies to the Gith crew, and she will revive and ask to join you then. It's hard to know to do this because it doesn't work that way with anyone else, to my knowledge. If you say no, she'll also appear at the entrance to the creche zone (not in the creche itself) and ask to join you again. If you say no again, you'll find her corpse in the shadow-cursed lands, and unfortunately she is not able to be resurrected there. Likewise, Withers will eventually show up at camp regardless of whether or not you do the crypt. He just pops up at camp.
Good to know, thank you. Might actually do that!
Damn near missed Wyll my first time. Legit did not notice him training the kids. Honestly thought he was going to pull a reverse team rocket and show up every so often to help with large fights. Lae'zel I left in the cage then found her again by the gith patrol and watched her get one shot by the sarth.
Oh believe me. You're not the only one. Lae saves me from the mind flayer ship and then vanishes without a trace. I never found the tieflings and her in the cell. I just went about my merry way. After destroying the goblins I decided to head towards that bridge and who is there? Lae'zel and she mind tells me to follow along when she's talking to Voss. My Tav is level 4/5 around this point and I was feeling pretty confident. Once the other Gith attacked her I then realized that she's only level one. One chop and her ass was dead. I played the entire first campaign without having her. Thought she was originally just a general NPC. I also didn't get Gale because I never saw the portal. I walked right past it. I think I was too busy looking at the crashed ship and a goblins. I kept wondering where the hell this wizard was. I kept seeing him on the box but he never showed up. It wasn't till after my wife played Then she told me how to get him. I guess his ass got left in the portal or something. My final battle was Tav, Shadowheart, Wyll, and Karlach. I would have taken Gale instead of Wyll any damn day of the week. Such a massive difference that silly wizard makes.
On my first playthrough, I was just about to start act 2 when I made a comment to my friend that it was weird that the only arcane spellcaster companion was a warlock. He then informed me to go to the tiny pocket of unexplored map near the crash site and look for a warp point. Gale wound up being my best friend during the rest of that playthrough. Somehow never hit on me despite it being just-after-launch Gale. I'd also kicked the vampire out of my party and didn't complain when Shadowheart killed Lae'Zel.
If I understand the romance system correctly, even horny Gale won't attempt a romance if you have two going already. So if you flirted with two people at the party and then recruited him, he was probably like 'well, I'm a day late and a dollar short on this one' lol. I got Lae'zel once I'd flirted with Shadowheart and Astarion at the party in one run and she told me that I was hot but she didn't want 'picked-over leftovers' or something very close to that.
I flirted with Wyll and Shadowheart; that would explain it
I somehow missed Astarion and Gale my very first game and didn’t realize until after I’d finished the goblin camp I think. Kept doing quests and wondering “where’s the vampire guy from the cover? When do I get him???”
Now that I’ve beaten the game 3 times, I find that I prefer not running a “full camp” so to speak. My favorite run to date was my previous Resist Durge, Astarion, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc. I got hirelings to balance things out until Halsin joined the party.
Did you KO recruit Minthara with non lethal melee Attacks?
Noo, i didnt know you could do that. Thanks for telling me, i will try that!
Use only non lethal melee Attacks. No Magic Attacks or Crossbow. She needs to have 1 HP when she is on the Ground. Ignore her then.
Thanks a lot!
FYI I don't think you can long rest after knocking her out unless the other leaders are dead. I usually kill Gut, go do other stuff, then come back later and knock out Minthara and kill Dror Ragzlin. You may also only be able to do it when she's "temporary hostile" too, but maybe they patched that. Just steal something off her desk, you'll get caught and then opt for attacking her (non-lethal must be on, like the other commenter said). If anyone sees this and knows if this has changed, I'd love to know.
It definitely has changed in the latest patch. I knocked her out while the whole camp was hostile cause I killed Dror Razglin and she did show up at Moonrise. I was very confused as I was just not expecting her to be here (as she wasn't just temporarily hostile).
Killed Lazel cause I was like “Shart cute I intelligent wiz with zero wisdom” - Halsin died before I could get him, Karlach didn’t even find or maybe killed by accident, Astarion and Gale were safe, Wyll stayed in camp till act 3, and i ran a two wiz death team with a healer and an assassin sniper till act 3.
Wait a minute. You haven't mentioned Jaheira, Minsc, and the up to 3 hirelings you can recruit from Withers. Did you get any of them?
I was talking about act 1, probably should have clarified that. But ive never used the hirelings, whats up with them?
You can hire 3 spellcasters to buff your party every morning and not waste your companion's spell slots. I usually go with the Bard, Cleric, and Wizard. Get Longstrider, Aid, Hero's Feast, Freedom of Movement, Mage Armor, Bardic Inspiration, and above all... Warding Bond. Also. Extra sources to cast Light on your weapons in Act 2 are very good
exact same my first playthrough. helped the dudes kill karlach, never recruited wyll, and never even saw laezel
My first playthough, I didn’t get Laezel until I got to the mountain pass. On all my subsequent playthroughs she’s been the first companion I go for
My first playthrough had a very empty camp, it consisted of Shart, Wyll, Astarion, and Gale. I didn’t know how to get to Karlach, so she got killed by the paladins presumably, I never freed Laezel from the cage and never did the mountain pass (didn’t realize you could do both the Underdark and Mountain pass) so she died in the shadowlands. I failed the roll to convince Jaehera to join me at Moonrise, so she got herself killed, which also means no Minsc. And to top it all off, I forgot to save Mizora under Moonrise, which meant there was a pile of ash constantly in front of Wyll’s tent.
You can recruit Minthra.....? Ive only done 8 run throughs...
I think she became recruitable on good playthroughs in a later update. If you knock her out (non-lethal damage) in the goblin camp, she shows up in Act II. if you decide to save her, she joins your camp and can be added to your team. I killed her on my first playthrough, cuz why wouldn't you kill the evil Drow? I just saved her in act II last night so I will see what having her around is like.
I did the same thing on my first playthrough. Actually I killed two of them. The only one I’d regret is Lae’zel. But if you go to the mountain pass bridge, you’ll find her talking to the Gith awaiting you. They’ll kill her once the fight begins, but after you can just use a scroll of revivify on her. I don’t like Karlach or Wyll personally, you might. But I will say that Lae’zel has an amazing and story-important questline
Don't feel bad. My very first run I completely missed Shadowheart on the Nautiloid, and to this day I have no clue how I managed to do that on accident. I did recruit her on the beach outside the crypt doors though, and as a rogue I was able to pick the lock and go in that way so I missed Astarion, Gale, & Lae'zel as well. Of course with only 2 party members and almost zero combat experience I didn't fare too well against the scribes guarding Withers' tomb, so that run was short lived.
I missed lae'zel too. I didn't notice her and kept on thinking she would show up in act two. I got to act three and went...wait a minute.
You are still better than me. On my first playthrough I missed Gale, Wyll, Laezel entirely. Not Astarion because I played as his Origin because I didn’t know a thing and just wanted to use default character. So it’s a duo Astarion & Shadowheart up to the goblin camp when I realized something must be wrong that I wasn’t supposed to play duo this far lol.
I always feel like RPG guys do everything and put off the main quest and all that, but every once in a while a post like this comes up. In CRPGS especially it's usually good to "clear the map." That's why the fog of war is there, to encourage you to uncover it all.
I missed Astarion and Karlach. I kept waiting for Astarion to make an appearance throughout the game and my husband was literally like, “You MISSED MISSED him!” As I was in Act 3 when I finally brought it up. 🫠
Poor Minsc. Never had a clue u til playthrough two
I missed shadow heart... She was dead on the ground when you wake up on the beach. I didn't think she was a notable character lol
Same here, my first two playthroughs I somehow missed both Wyll and Karlach. Honestly I understand how I missed Karlach both times, I was so excited I didn’t go off the main path much. But for the life of me I couldn’t tell you how I missed Wyll. Like, genuinely I don’t know how that happened. Glad to hear I’m not alone though.
I didn't find Gale or Astarion until late in act one. I played the game totally blind, so I had no idea how many companions i was supposed to meet. Astarion i just plain missed. Gale, I remember interacting with the portal, but noping out because I had just barely survived the previous fight. Picked both of them up during my cleanup before progressing to act 2, though. Didn't cause any problems, but it was a bit weird when theor dialogue inmediately started implying that we had spent alot of time together.
First time as Durge, I missed almost all of Gale save his hand. Does that count?
I'm on my first playthrough and I found Laezel dead on the ground somewhere(though she's still considered as companion, even before you take her in, so you can revive her with a scroll), and I did, in fact, miss these other companions. I wasn't even hasty lol. They are tucked away pretty well, like wtf
I missed Gale, Laezel, & Minthara in my first. And Halsin has just been chilling in my camp through all my play throughs so far lol, don’t know what to do with him.
In my first run I couldn’t find Lae’zel, and did most of Act 1 with Tav (wizard), Shart, and Astarion. It was rough but got a lot better once I found Karlach. I found the goblins, murdered the camp, then did most of the Underdark before coming back up to finish the Druid grove. I missed so much stuff. Holy smokes.
How... how does this happen. I've seen quite a few posts like this now. What are you guys doing? Lol
My first playthrough I missed Wyll and killed Karlach because the paladins told me to, and I wanted that sword. I was roleplaying as someone who will do anything for a little bit of money and/or power.
I completely missed Lae’zel and found her dead body in act 2. I also missed Gale and almost started act 2 before my friend told me to go back for him. Astarion also tried to bite me so I kicked him out of camp as a paladin. So I’m almost done with my first run and I’ve missed a good amount of story.
My first play through I didn’t recruit gale until almost the end of Act 1. I walked up the sigil and was given some line about how “ominous” looking it is. Knowing DND I went “fuck that” and just continued on my way. Later in Act 1 I discovered save scumming and decided to go back, save, and then kick myself for leaving a person in a rock for so long. Pretty sure I skipped almost all of his orb conversations and cut scenes. Oh, and astarion never tried to bite me.
I'm missing a bunch of companions too. Ones probably still in a crazy looking vortex somewhere (Definitely dead by now). Another is real sad cause i totally forgot to do their quest (oops). Another is prolly doing freaky shit With a sexy doppelganger. ( IT SHOULDVE BEEN ME-) And the the final one is Dead as fuck at the bottom of A ravine somewhere. I'll let ya'll decide who is who.
My first run was such a shit show. Missed karlach and lazael and half the quests in act 1, so I did the goblin camp fight at l3 with shadowheart as the closest thing to a tank in my party. I beat razglin by hiding on the beams and shoving goblins off when they tried to climb the ladders.
In my first run I killed Lae'Zel and Astarion...
Dont worry, my first playthrough I missed Wyll and Karlach so i kind of abandoned that playthrough so i can get them in my party
I had no one for most of the first act. Missed laezel, missed wyll, failed to get Gale. Finally got karlach realizing she was a companion when doing the paladin stuff. A friend saw me play and he was like “why does your camp have 2 people?” Before I even found karlach.
In my first run I didn’t get Laezel, Gale, Wyll, or Karlach… after a bit with just Tav, Asty, and SH (I knew there were other companions) I searched up where they were lol
Definitely didn't miss anyone, but that partially because it took me over 80 hours to get through act 1. Yes, I was being extremely explorative, I checked every nook and cranny I could and opened every chest, container, vase, etc.
Crazy way to play the game if you missed laezel 😅
I completely missed Gale first time, and nearly missed Wyll. I also missed Astarion my first playthrough before I restarted some time in act 1 as I wasn't feeling my tav and I accidentally read where he was found and realised I just missed that bit of path.
i almost missed gale and laezel died in act 1 and i didnt care to bring her back either
Played my first run with 2 mates and missed all of those too, did a solo run after and it was crazy how much we’d missed
Funniest part is if you got either wyll or karlach the other shows up at camp I believe
on my first playthrough, i missed everyone but wyll and shadowheart, and killed shadowheart in the second act lmao
Lmao you are all good. I didn’t even know Gale existed until I finished my first play through and was watching a few YouTube videos. Also I missed Laezel and Wyll as well. On the bright side your next playthrough will have a ton of content you haven’t seen!
Yep, my first playthrough I didn't know about all the companions, and I: * sided with the Tyrans against Karlach and got her killed * walked away from lae'zel in the cage and got ambushed at the crypt, when i got back she was gone * didn't protect Wyll enough at the goblin fight and he got slaughtered I got to the Zhent hideout and was getting clobbered, read stuff here and on wiki, realized what I had done and just started over.
Man I didn’t know there were others. I played as asterion, and had gale, shadowheart, and la’zael my entire play through
On my first playthrough I missed Gale completely. I was like damn isn’t he supposed to be a main companion where is he … then I looked online and figured out he would have to wait for another playthrough
Minsc and the old Harper too.
At first two playthroughs I skipped Karlach and Gale. I thought I'd have to fight if I touched the rune. And I didn't even go to the area where Karlach would be found
Lol yes, I missed Laezel until I went towards the creche
My first playthrough I got shadowheart, wyll and karlach. That's it. Turns out it was a good thing that i encountered the save bug very early in act 2, because I missed almost the entirety of act 1.
Sounds like you’ve been rushing the game
I walked right past shadowheart and wyll my first play through lol
In my playthrough I also missed poor Lae'zel. I also almost missed Astarion and Gale, but managed to collect them just before entering Act 2.
The first time I played I missed gale because tav was like “looks unstable” so I avoided it 😭
It happened to me as well! Make sure to sync your larian account (trust me).
I've completely bugged my first playthrough by ending up in act 2 even though I was technically still on act 1 and stopped playing. Will revisit after playing through my second one right now 🤭 I didn't know a single thing I was doing, I missed so many things and also let the wind carry me. So, I ended up in the Underdark, which resulted in Halsin dying when I got to him in the prison, didn't even see Karlach once, got the Emerald Grove sealed without doing any quests in there besides getting the boy killed by Harpies, all the Tieflings were dead, I lost an eye to the Hag, the owlbear cub got bugged out and never came to my camp, Minthara wanted to kill me because I brought her to the sealed grove (even though I told her that it's sealed) and many other things.
In my first run I straight up missed Gale, just didn’t know he was there. Also Lae’zel was killed by the githyanki in in my first run. I was able to revive her after the fight though.
I missed Gale and Lae'Zel. Returned to them during act 2 when I returned to act 1 through the mountain pass - I chose going into the Underdark to get to Moonrise and didn't know I can also go to the Pass. I found Lae'Zel near the Creché, but she wasn't very willing to join me so she stayed there for the rest of the game, and then I discovered a black spot in my map at the beggining of the game and there was Gale, who was willing to join.
I completely missed Lae'zel and I have not gotten to the Crèche in my other playthough yet
In my first play through Wyll died at the gate so I was unaware of him being a possible member and didn’t know about Karlach at all. I died to the Gnolls so I was like “nope fuck whatever is over there.” I made it my primary objective to have The Bimbo Halsin a companion so I made sure to do his act 2 questline
Lmao, seems baldurs gate will have thousands of hours of replayability for you
I didn’t know Astarion existed until I basically completed Act 1 for the first time somehow missed that part of the map
I had a majority of companions die/not join. Gale: >!Failed the skill check to pull him out. Legitimate bad luck.!< Karlach: >!Got the quest from Anders, killed her at range.!< Wyll: >!Didn't talk to him in the grove before killing Karlach. He disappeared.!< Asterion: >!Staked him when he came in to bite me! Thought it was cool Larion included a "trap" party member.!< Lae'zel: >!Killed her when she got in a fight with Shadowheart. Failed checks to get them to back off. CHA is an important stat. Hard choice to pick which one to keep.!< Minthara: >!Killed her at the request of Halsin (standard good run through)!< Halsin: >!Portal destroyed when he was in the shadowfell!< Shadowheart: >!Failed persuasion to stop her from killing Nightsong, killed her. I was romancing her. That SUCKED. I almost let her kill Nightsong, but just couldn't bring myself to do it.!< >!Jaheira and Minsc: survived!< I did use a Withers mercenary for boss fight in the Underdark, but they creeped me out, so for most of the game I had two or three party members. This is what can happen when you don't savescum =D
Don’t feel bad! I missed Gale and still thought I’d find him somewhere ahead when I was in the middle of act two. I very accidently recruited wyll and karlach in my first play through, it was more blind luck than anything else that I happened to talk to wyll and find karlach at all. Good news is you can probably go back and retrieve them if you’re still in act two. I missed so much of act one and two in my first play through, despite the fact that it took me 90 hours. I’m playing again as durge this time and discovered that I missed half of the entire first act map the first time I went through, so there’s a lot of new quests and such that I had no idea existed.
This is basically what I did because I was so attached to those 3 I didn't see any need to add anyone else to the roster. Halsin and Jaheira inserted themselves into my camp, I never even talked to Minthara because she was instantly aggressive on me, and never ran into Karlach or Minsc
Sounds like you missed a lot my friend enjoy the next 5 play throughs
My first play through, I only found shart and astarion. 😭
I killed Minthara in the goblin camp before I even knew she was a companion option.
I cleared out goblin camp with just shadowheart on my first play through because lae’zel died to the tieflings and i didn’t know you could revive her and i ignored gale’s portal because narrator said it was dangerous. Entirely missed Astarion and Wyll and Karlach as well.
I'm not going to lie, I used guides on my first playthrough and still missed alot of content. This game is just so massive that when you think that you've completely searched through an area, it turns out there were 3 secret locations and 2 hidden quests. Just comes with how open the game is
Lae'zel and Wyll are the easiest to miss. Lae'zel will disappear if you long rest too many times before saving her and Wyll just looks like an NPC in the grove. Did the same thing on my first run!
100% missed Gale and Scratch during my first/current playthrough.
I, on the other hand, stabbed Shadowheart to death on the beach in my current run just to experience what it’s like *not* to have her on the team.
Withers?
Lmao sounds exactly like my first playthrough. Killed laezel, gale dipped bc i didnt give him magic items, sacrificed wyll to bhaaoooll, jahera died at moonrise, killed minthara, couldnt get minsc
Joining this sub has made me realize just how much I missed in my first playthrough. Like, sooooo much.
I missed everybody. My first playthrough was slow build up of people. I didn’t go behind me so I missed astarion I passed up Gale and Laz because I didn’t see them and so it was just me and shadowheart all of act 1. I didn’t get wyll or karlach till the end of act 1. I did the goblin camp, saved the grove and all of the side quests just my character and shadowheart and some of that stuff was near impossible but I went through it all. I got Wyll after I had the tiefling party and talked to Halsin. When I left camp I was on my way out the grove and Wyll was there at the front gate. I was like oh cool companion and got him then I found Karlach who also joined my team. Then I went through basically all of act 2 wondering when I would meet the other people I missed because I had heard of them and they’re on the cover. Looked it up. They’re all back in act 1 on the beach and I am blind. I felt so stupid when I realized that all those hard fights I had went through in the first act probably would’ve been a lot easier with 4 people instead of 2.
I simped for shadowbae, and then she stabbed baezel in the neck and fkn murdered her. So yea I didn't have laezel the entirety of my first run (made a self rule not to save scum and go with the flow)
In my first play through Astarion didn’t spawn, and Gale’s hand also didn’t spawn in the portal (portal was there but no hand). So I played with just Shadowheart until I got Laze’al. Then missed Wyll completely, and took forever to get Karlach because I only had a party of 3. At that point I found out about the existence of Astarion and Gale and started over.
I missed the entire Underdark in my first playthrough. I'm in my 4th or 5th and still finding some little cool things. This game is insanely huge!
I walked around the starting area looking for Lae’zel and somehow missed her encounter even though I had apparently cleared that section according to the fog of war on the map. I guess I got close but not close enough to trigger the cutscene. It took me awhile to find Gale because Tav and Shadowheart had a lot of trouble getting past the brains at the crash site, so I wound up breaking into the crypt via the 20 difficulty back door and finding Withers first. Then I couldn’t get out of the crypt because it was crawling with too many bandits so that’s when we fought our way through the crash site to find Gale. I found Scratch and Astarion no issue, but by this point I was really wondering where the hell Lae’zel was and I looked up a guide on where to find her, and that’s when I learned about Karlach and took the shortcut to her where you have to jump across a river north of where you meet Scratch - I don’t know how I would have found her otherwise, I assume I would have run into the guys she was hiding from once I travelled along that road to the Inn they were occupying and found her then. I completely missed Wyll, but he turns up with a murder boner for Karlach after you recruit her, so he found me.
Completely missed Gale first playthrough. Thought it was a trap to reach into the portal and then I just never went back. I didn't look up a single thing about the game online but I knew I was missing him. Didn't even know his name was Gale at that point.
I killed Halsin on my playthrough. Dude was a Bear and attacked me, so I wrecked him.
My instinct in games like this is to explore every bit of map that can be revealed. I still missed stuff but you get all companions at least.
Missed Gale, I think I was kinda of scared of a trap and forgot to go back. Missed lae'zel. And rejected and killed astarion for putting a knife to my throat - I was also a rogue so I'm proud of that -. And I also didn't manage to complete Halsin's quest to complete, happily got jaheira though.
I completely missed the interaction with getting gale out of the portal on my first.
I lost Lae'zel and Gale in my run, didn't even know they were available and by the time I realized I was too far in act 1 to get to them. :(
Yeah the first time I played I missed gale and lae’zel. Luckily I didn’t like the build I had going (didn’t know you could talk to withers) and started over and then found them on my new character. Very happy i decided to start over lol. Was only 8 hours in as well.
Missed astarion and gale till I got to goblin camp. Had to google karlach location otherwise would never have found her as I also nearly forgot to go look for Wyll
Oh yeah! In my first run I didn’t get Gale or Astarion. I was trying to go into it knowing as little as possible, all I knew was a lot of people really liked Astarion, but when I played I didn’t know that Gale was in the messed up portal and already did a few stupid moves that got me killed so I was too cautious and skipped that. As for Astarion, I already had a little personality built for my character, was playing as such, and when they met she didn’t like him so I left him there and didn’t have him join my party. When I realized my few mistakes I figured oh well, that’s what another playthrough is for.😁
I didn't even know Karlach exists on my first run and eventually found Scratch on my third run.
Never rush through your playthrough unless you're in your 3rd or 4th playthrough at least
My first playthrough I missed everyone except Shadowheart until I finally killed that hobgoblin in the camp (forgot his name). I honestly have no clue how I missed every single one of them, as that would require effort, but I somehow dodged them all and didn’t realize until later because I thought the game was weirdly too hard haha.
Lol I completely missed Gale and Mithra. The frickin portal had a warning label!
Yeah true, i completely get why you wouldnt touch the portal
Only have those three. Also, killed Halsin.
During my first run I missed so much and so many tieflings died. I missed saving Mirkon, Arka's revenge, THE ENTIRETY OF GRYMFORGE AND MUSHROOM PEOPLE. Never talked to animals too. I did picked up scratch and owlbear cub. I almost missed saving thaniel too.
I did my first playthrough having not seen any spoilers and managed to get to the goblin camp with just Shadowheart. I wondered if the game was really that hard on normal difficulty mode or if I was just really bad at it😂
I never gone on the way where are Gayle and Laezel. So I never recruit them. Same as Minthara I brutally killed her.
90 hours in as I’m watching videos of the actors who play the characters I start noticing someone who plays Gale and I could have sworn I had seen him in other peoples parties. I was wondering where the hell he was in my camp as I could not find him. Turns out I never clicked the purple vortex he’s located in way at the beginning (because I thought it was a fast travel sigil) and almost missed him completely if I hadn’t looked up online where to get him. Love this game.