Should we do our companions final quest if we haven't travelled with them? *no spoilers*

[TamoDogo]

We brought Shadowheart and Karlach with us - completed both their storylines and they felt impactful because we have been journeying with them for 140+ hours, absolutely loved them

Then we did Astarions and it just felt *empty* - we haven't travelled with him, we weren't invested in his storyline, and finishing his main quest with Cazador with nothing before that just felt disappointing - obviously our fault for that, it felt like reading the opening chapter of a book then skipping to the last

But yeah, question is, should we do the remaining companion quests that we haven't travelled with, or will we miss out on something important for the endgame if we skip them? I'd rather skip them and complete them in a different playthrough while travelling with them, but worried that there will be consequences for doing so.

[Govi]

I kind of know what you mean

By the time I get to Karlach I’ve used Lae’zel as my fighter the whole way; it seems off to oust her there

[Callirgos]

Lae'zel is bae

[seeker1]

From the most purely pragmatic standpoint, it is possible doing their companion quests MIGHT get you allies for "Gather Your Allies" in the endgame. Check the Wiki for how that might work. (Although BTW more often than not it often involves arriving at an "evil" ending for such.)

Other than that, I guess if you don't care about them or how about how their character arc resolves, then no you don't "have" to do them. You might also get XP and loot from finishing them, again to look at it from that standpoint.

[TamoDogo]

Originally posted by Govi:

I kind of know what you mean

By the time I get to Karlach I’ve used Lae’zel as my fighter the whole way; it seems off to oust her there

yeaaaaah exactly, and being 140+ hours in, it feels like we're cramming in the finale without any of the journey

Originally posted by Callirgos:

Lae'zel is bae

Unless you're a "teefling"

[TamoDogo]

Originally posted by seeker1:

From the most purely pragmatic standpoint, it is possible doing their companion quests MIGHT get you allies for "Gather Your Allies" in the endgame. Check the Wiki for how that might work. (Although BTW more often than not it often involves arriving at an "evil" ending for such.)

Other than that, I guess if you don't care about them or how about how their character arc resolves, then no you don't "have" to do them. You might also get XP and loot from finishing them, again to look at it from that standpoint.

thank you for the answer

for now my biggest thing is "story" - if we can skip the other finales and use those characters in the next playthrough to experience their story completely, i'll just skip them - not too worried about gear, but i would like more allies

[seeker1]

So here you go .... here's the Wiki with your answers.

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gather_Your_Allies

So just to note for example ... to get help from

Viconia and the temple of Shar, you need to have the very unhappiest of endings for Shadowheart

[TamoDogo]

Originally posted by seeker1:

So here you go .... here's the Wiki with your answers.

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gather_Your_Allies

So just to note for example ... to get help from

Viconia and the temple of Shar, you need to have the very unhappiest of endings for Shadowheart

thank you, i was afraid to look it up incase someones questline was spoiled, and yeah i knew about the Shadowheart one, i chose the happier ending lol

[Gwonbush]

Originally posted by TamoDogo:

Originally posted by seeker1:

From the most purely pragmatic standpoint, it is possible doing their companion quests MIGHT get you allies for "Gather Your Allies" in the endgame. Check the Wiki for how that might work. (Although BTW more often than not it often involves arriving at an "evil" ending for such.)

Other than that, I guess if you don't care about them or how about how their character arc resolves, then no you don't "have" to do them. You might also get XP and loot from finishing them, again to look at it from that standpoint.

thank you for the answer

for now my biggest thing is "story" - if we can skip the other finales and use those characters in the next playthrough to experience their story completely, i'll just skip them - not too worried about gear, but i would like more allies

I'll break it down by companion, then. Lae'zel's companion quest is deeply tied to the main plot and the obviousness of bringing her along to the Creche should have given you basically all of her story beats. Wyll is also similarly tied to the main plot, and most of his story beats are initially triggered by Mizora visiting in camp, so you're at 80/90% of the way there just by going through those conversations. Even if the lack of familiarity means that his scenes don't emotionally resonate with you as much, all his Act 3 stuff is connected to the main plot and is worth doing for that alone.

Gale gets like 95% of his plot at camp and can go through his entire character arc without ever being in the party, except for a specific ending that requires it. Jaheria's companion quest can be done entirely without her, though swapping someone out for her at the locations she mentions as being important in Act 3 is also pretty simple.

As you've noticed, Astarion suffers more than most by not being in the party, as if he's not , then there has been no foreshadowing for Cazador's ritual before Act 3 and his approval is low enough that he hasn't talked to you much about Cazador.

Even the game knows how incomplete Shadowheart's story is if you don't bring her along and she will actually leave the party if you didn't take her into the Shadowfell in Act 2.

Karlach's Dammon stuff can similarly be done simply by subbing her in quickly in camp and dealing with the "Paladins of Tyr", but all of her Gortash stuff probably lands more flat without her in the party for that. But similarly to Wyll and Laezel, that portion of her story is tied to the main plot and is even more guaranteed than theirs.

[TamoDogo]

super informative my friend, thank you

[Carynara]

Originally posted by TamoDogo:

I'd rather skip them and complete them in a different playthrough while travelling with them, but worried that there will be consequences for doing so.

Actually, there are breaking points in the companion interactions which you can utilize to kick folks out of your current run.

E.g. you can choose to kill Karlach for Wyll, attack Astarion when he bites you, and I believe even telling folks you don't want them to join works. Obviously the game tries really hard to force them on you, and that makes sense since you are not supposed to miss them. But there are options to keep them out of the storyline. I don't think any of them are crucial to progression - I've heard of folks doing solo runs or only using the hirelings from Withers, so it seems it's possible to put all of them aside.

Essentially, if you don't want to spoil their stories, it's best to make sure they are dead or leave camp, else some of the interactions will kick in.

[northernwater]

I pretty much ignore the companions bellyaching about this and that.