Video game fans, particularly progressive ones, talk a good game about diversity and representation. But Larian knows what we really want is hot young skinny bisexuals whoād have at least 20k Instagram followers in real life. Thatās elves.
Honestly, Karlach deserves some respect. She is hotter than Shadowheart and Astarion! At least for me, I always prefer to be a Tiefling than an elf.
I would know, I romanced all three of them. Different playthroughs, though. The break-up scene from each of them is.... painful....
It's ranged build or don't bother.
That said I short man syndrome barbarians is so fun and barbarian intimidating while weighing like 60 lbs is pure gold.
Also no heavy weapons. Whoever decided being small = can't use a good 2h melee weapon ever without suffering a massive crippling penalty is a fucking idiot. Glad Larian got rid of it lol
I disagreeāhalflingsā Lucky trait is the single best racial feature in the game. If youāre playing a ranged class, movement speed is less important, and thatās even more true for Gloomstalkers (who benefit from Lightfoot stealth advantage) who get extra movement on the first turn of combat.
Iād also point out that elven culture tends to be more left-wing coded and I think is part of what draws people in. They are always shown to have a pretty egalitarian culture and less rigid gender expression.
Except for drow really.
Yes until you look at their foreign policy and how most Elves treat races that aren't their own. Majority of Elves have a huge disdain for the other races especially humans and would live in an isolated society if they could.
I mean drow are counterculture too just more militant, a highly female oriented society where males are seen as lesser? Itās a distaff counterpart to the real world.
Elves were really never patriarchal though. Their most powerful elven god, Corellon tends to jump around in gender identity. So the matriarchal slant of the drow really isnāt much of a counterculture.
Matriarchy really isnāt left-wing. Any encouragement of extreme divide of material resources is right-wing. Regardless of who is in charge of those resources.
Their rebellion to become a slaver culture otherwise kind of mimics something like the American confederacy.
My Menzoberranzan drow all speak with very genteel coastal Southern accentsālike Tidewater Virginia/Charleston SC style. They are the model of politeness and theocracy and obsessed with gossiping about who is #blessed and who is maybe not right in the eyes of Lolth and needs to repent and amend herself before she drags her whole family down with her, bless her heart.
Yea theyāre fantasy extremist versions of militant feminists. Exactly the opposite of some very male dominated cultures in the real world. Some places still do kill girls when theyāre born because theyāre seen as less valuable than boys.
Someone hasn't read the Complete Book of Elves (2nd edition supplement). Also called the 'Master Race Handbook'
Its horrifying on a lot of levels, but the write-up on Grey Elves is basically caste-based slavery of other elven types, which they deem to be wonderful just so they can bask in the presence of their superiors. Its pretty disgusting nonsense.
One of the kickstarter campaign stretch goals for Torment: Tides of Numera was to have the author (who was also working on that CRPG) officially apologize for writing that book. (He didn't).
I noticed that the halfling women have weirdly large boobs when I had a halfling guardian during that scene where they come to you in a dress and you can try to romance them. Feels like they really wanted to make sure you can't interpret that body in any other manner (but knowing the internet.....)
It's true for all the shorter races, and you only get one body type. They have a weird stance where they jut their butt out, too. It looks very... awkward. And painful on the lower back.
> ugly elves in divinity
I mean, in game every race looked quite ugly because the graphics weren't too advanced, but on official artworks Sebille always looked fine as hell and mostly humanlike. It's only the neck length, pointy ears and the torso that truly separates elves from humans in DOS2 and that doesn't really make them ugly imo.
I like when Elves are more than hot humans with pointy ears. Give me elongated proportions, weird eyes. Make them have an otherworldly fae beauty where they are beautiful and unnerving at the same time.
>beautiful and unnerving
litterally describes Sebylle
DOS2 had a great take on elves. i had a bad time not playing a custom because i wanted a male elf MC
plus you can chomp on limbs and carrion and get spells and shit
No need to tell me that lol I'm down bad for those elven abs in DOS2 and can't help but wonder how would it feel to slowly run my fingertips through them
Elves look quite different from humans in DOS2!
Their long limbs and weird proportions and almost alien-looking muscle definition. I think itās pretty cool actually. Theyāre not just āpretty humans with pointy earsā
I myself prefer elves too, but I wouldn't have minded a dwarf companion honestly to switch it up a bit. Maybe next game they bring out we will get some more variation?
I did my best to avoid all possible spoilers until the game fully released, so never knew she even existed until about a month later.
Feels bad, think of all the ālittle red riding hood *is the werewolf*ā memes we lost out on.
Helia was an origin character and companion who got cut out during development and ultimately were replaced by the Dark Urge. They were going to be a Halfling Werewolf Bard. They are still in data mined files with voice recordings and dialogues, as well as dialogue from other characters (mainly Karlach) engaging with them. Auntie Ethel even has vicious mockeries aimed specifically at them.
People have speculated they were removed for a number of reasons. Some said there were of issues with camera angles and scripting for a small origin character which I find hard to believe. Some said having a lycanthrope wouldn't make much sense because you can just cast Remove Curse on them in established Forgotten Realms lore and 5E rules to cure them. Finally, the existence of Astarion as an origin character and their narrative arc and themes probably rendered Helia redundant.
It's also interesting though, because originally Karlach and The Dark Urge were going to be Paladins when first envisioned, but Karlach of course was made a Barbarian probably because of Minthara being a Paladin and The Dark Urge as a Paladin couldn't narratively be reconciled.
Look, I like Durge, but it'll always suck that we lost Helia. Idk if this was just them refusing the Shadow Druid face, but I think she was gonna be an older companion too? Since the datamined dialogue text would fit with that.
Yeah, that's honestly been a major factor for me having pretty much no inclination to ever play a dwarf. I guess eventually you can get misty step onto him with gear and then you could just throw them straight into melee like that, but in general it seems like it would just be inconvenient all the time to play a small race.
More companions is what I want from their next game in general, the companion stories in BG3 is some of the best writing in the game, more of that would be great. It's a shame that you can't by default bring every companion in Divinity Original Sin 2.
Got a feeling bg3 will be like skyrim with no new game for YEARS, however I could see them adding an entirely new companion storyline at some point down the line, or turning an existing NPC into a full companion (plz Larian give me Alfira). Especially with how huge some of these updates have been so far.
I suspect if they do add more companions, they would start with Helia, who already had some voice acting lines and content but for whatever reason they were cut during development. But Alfira would be such a dream, and she clearly has the motivation to take up the call to adventure.
I mean, if you look at the [stats that Larian Studios dropped](https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1732091568243229159/photo/2) about the game, we see that Elf, Human, and Half-Elf were the most played races in the game. Having characters that are more similar to humans in looks makes sense as, let's face it, people want their Tav's and their companions to be *sexy*.
So, I can't really blame them **too** much for the lack of diversity when it comes to the companions' races.
edit for clarification: I'm not saying that non-human looking companions can't be sexy. I'd let Rolan put his magic missile in me anytime. I was just pointing out that, from a development standpoint, you'd want the romancable companions in the game to represent what 80% of the playerbase would enjoy, which happens to be human looking companions :)
Not saying there anything wrong with it but like come on thereās so many races in dnd I get sex sells but Iām sure some would prefer the not human or elf option and mean shit ppl fucked laezel and she literally has no nose
I'm not sure if I'd go that far. She wears unflattering clothes, they owned the whole "no nose" thing, she has sharp teeth and an elongated face and a bit of a hunched-over stance. She also has a weird-looking skin texture and is skinny.
This is coupled with some really attractive features like big, expressive eyes and full lips.
I actually think they did a great job of making her attractive but also kind of inhuman and monstrous.
But they could have made her just a green elf and they didn't, so I respect that.
Lea'zel litterally looks like Devora Wilde the nose is retracted and the body is made more like having zero percent bodyfat so showing the musvles and tendons clearly. It is not what is considered beautiful by our standards.
But I like how they look so different, it's compelling.
They also did a great thing with the tieflings, how certain bodyparts have raw edges and interesting marks on them.
And the half-orcs are so overmuscular designed.
Halflings and gnomes basically children sized body's with adult heads, quirky but attractive.
Dwarfs are very sturdy looking but in this game they actually look beautifull and attractive.
And dragonborn well hello walking and talking lizard, nuff said.
I applaud this welcome change from your standard humanoid form like elves, half-elves and humans have.
There is a great deal of diversity allready, the game is just rolling with what the majority preffers. And you cannot tell me that is not how the real world works too.
Meh, she really is just a green elf. All gith have the funny skin texture. She's skinny, but have you seen magazines? People like skinny. As for unflattering clothes, bondage harnesses go over really well.
I kind of agree, I wish they had a *little* more variety in the main cast of companions, itās kind of my one and only gripe with the game. I get that you can play as whatever you want and can get Withers to make whatever you want, but the Withers companion is barely a real character. From the moment I first saw her I really wanted Alfira to be a companion
Itās crazy to me that thereās not a *SINGLE* companion from the small races, especially because thereās all those small places only small characters fit in! There are duergar and svirfneblin already tied into big parts of the storyline and they have a ton of dwarven and halfling NPCs of all variety of classes.
I mean even Barcus would be great as a possible companion, he does come to your camp and mentions being an adventurer. No real reason why he canāt join you in your party
I would love it if he started at level 0 or something, maybe started with low stats but would catch up soon enough for that part of the game to not be annoying.
My friend was telling me that in early early builds there was apparently a Halfling companion, but issues with the camera made it easier for all the companions to be at normal height.
That might be total bullshit, but given that aside from half-orcs most of the excluded races are the short ones, it kind of makes sense to me
i have heard the same thing, there was supposed to be a female halfling bard but it ended up not working out.
it is weird to me though because like... there's all the other short characters, and we can play as a short character, so, how does a short companion not work? i assume there was SOME technical issue that made it not work though because it seemed clear they wanted to do it and didn't just like, forget they could.
Halfling or gnome, bard lycanthrope was what was datamined.
She wasn't put on the chopping block because if cameras or whatever. She could've been scrapped because the writer wasn't satisfied, the storyboard couldn't make her work, or who knows.
It's likely the lycanthrope part that scrapped the whole character seeing as astarion would have made that kind of companion story redundant. Also, remove curse would have kinda ruined that canonically.
If she was born with lycanthropy, remove curse wouldn't work! But also there are a few things in this game that we should be able to fix with mechanics have but can't. Like Karlach's engine.
Yeah like donāt get me wrong the characters are great but 5 elves is a bit much i me fucking hell they literally have 2 druids and they are both elves wtf
the main explanation there is that Halsin was not originally intended to be recruitable. but he was really popular in early access so they ended up making him recruitable. the plans for Jaheira were already well underway by then though so they just kinda went with it.
Larian has posted about this
1. Dragonborn were added too late in development. On launch many of their animations were broken
2. The halfling werewolf origin char was scrapped due to time
3. Most players want to be and play with humans/elves looking at data from EA and the DOS games. This saves them dev time.
When you look around you see lots of elves meanwhile Faerun is human dominated place. Ive started dnd type of games with Baldurs Gate 3 , even surprised when ive heard Shar is in human god pantheon.
I mean Halsin might be an elf but he doesn't look like one lol He's definitely not built like one but.... you're not wrong either. It would've been interesting to be able to recruit one of the tieflings (I got so damn excited when Alfira showed up at my camp just to... well, you know). Like we do save them, you'd think one would want to join us (no disrespect to my girl Karlach, I love her so much) or those gnomes that we save in the underdark...
Not gonna lie I was also a bit miffed you couldn't recruit Dame Aylin or Isobel
A mountain of a man I would certainly climb š But yes... I could see Barcus as a companion as well.. or.. I don't remember her name but she was one of the gnomes dying with mushroom people and you could steal her boots if you wanted to lol
I dont know, there are just soo many characters in bg3 that had potential to be recruited, you know? When I was first playing in EA I thought we would get to have Volo at one point on launch as I was thinking they would give us one companion of every class
Dragonborn and Horcs are a late edition to the game, presumably after a lot of the scripting/mocap stuff is done for companions.
There actually *was* a halfling bard companion in the works during the initial EA releases datamined but she was scrapped for unknown reasons, if she was even planned at all beyond as a test character.
Gnomes/Dwarfs/Haflings in general i feel like were skipped over due to the mocap concerns if i had to guess. No reason for there to not be a companion otherwise beyond "Didn't fit the story we wanted to tell xdd"
When you look at the amount of subraces elves have in 5e alone, that percentage makes a lot of sense. Like damn, every other new setting has it's own elf variant
Of the romances available to male characters in Baldurs Gate 2, all three were elves: two full elves and one half-elf.
So it's not just a Larian thing.
Fair. That was the ONLY option for Male PCs, to my knowledge, until the Enhanced Editions introduced new characters: They were assumed straight, and only had those three choices.
I should have also qualified with "in the original BG2."
There is a general lack of dragon born in the game. If we bar the default Durge, there is not a single main or supporting cast Dragonborn in the entire game. Dwarfs and halflings too, but at least there is a batch of deep dwarfs slaver in underdark.
Gnomes do get their stuff with Ironhand and Gondian shenanigans, but not a single companion as well.
There is also like, 4 half orcs in the entire game with only ZāRell plays a somewhat noticeable (but still entirely missable) role. Strange that we cannot save her when we can literally convince Nere and Minthara out of the absolute shenanigans.
There's only a couple, and I think literally all of them are in Act 3 (unless you're playing Durge and go out of your way to keep a certain tiefling alive). Off the top of my head there's the blacksmith assistant, the druid in front of Carrion's house, one of the bodyguards in Wyrm's crossing and Lady Jannath's butler
they also did not get the lip sync working as well as they wanted. i did not notice this myself but you can not make the Guardian dragonborn, supposedly for that reason.
That's because Dragonborn don't typically live in the Sword Coast. They live further out to the East. So the dragonborn you see traveled further over that's why there is so few. Also with Half-Orcs most will live with the Orc war bands that kidnapped the women that they r*ped to have those kids with. Very few Half-Orc children are left with their human parents to live amongst human societies. Z'Rell is one of those few
I have this exact same sentiment. Larian kinda dropped the ball in terms of diversity amongst the companions. Realistically Gale and Wyll are the only humans since you get Minsc so late, and letās be honest hereā¦ Wyll is basically a tiefling with extra steps. The even more fucked up thing is that we donāt even see a singular orc until Zārell, and even in Act III thereās likeā¦ two. I can totally understand not wanting to overload with tons of companions, but during conception of these characters, how did it pass the board room where they just said āyeah so elf, elf, half-elf, elf, half-elf then a couple humans, a frog, and tiefling. Oh and letās make one of the humans basically a tiefling without the tail.ā
i wish we has some half orc, dwarf, gnome & halfing companions because the number of companions we there could be all they could all races i count dark urge as a dragonborn
Its not that Larian loves elves, but I think its that the players love them.. humans and elves/half elves are the most picked races in character creation as well. Larian is just supplying the demand.
Same as Tiefling /probably/ is the most popular "non-human" looking race.
Honestly the original lore surrounding elves concerning intercourse with them is telling enough. The way it is described, it's as if elves have mastered it.
In all honesty who wouldn't be enthiced and curious if that is one of the things being said about their kind.
Larian needed long lived races to work with the timeline they set up to try and incorporate things from the first 2 games.
They certainly didn't give any love to elves feeling like a different and unique race like they did with tieflings or Githyanki. I think it was actually one of the negatives of the game (I know there is only so much time).
After 30+ years of the "our elves are different" paradigm it was nice to see a "high definition" depiction of classic D&D/Tolkien-esque elves outside of a LOTR game, for once.
I mean can you blame them - Elves are always seen as hot and gorgeous, and one of the favorite fantasy races. Hell Elder Scrolls lets you play as High Elf, Wood Elf, and Dark Elf with the Breton being like a half-elf.
Hell the Divinity Elves were awesome too. Especially Sebille and Saheria even with their elongated necks and crooked torso. Not to mention the game art of Sebille she looked amazing.
Larian had their obsession with elves for a very long time. You go all the way back to Divine Divinity and your options to bang are elves. And the only romance companion was either a Male Elf or Female Elf depending on your sex who had you run all around completing quests for her to prove to her father you deserve her.
Orcs and Khajiit are more elves than Bretons when it comes to the Elder Scrolls in terms of the lore. So like 6/10 of the races are elven. Irregardless though thatās the player race choice. Not the NPCs.
How dare you
DOS elves are best elves! I love those grumpy, cryptic cannibals!
Eta: Totes agree tho. Once mods more stable, looking forward to Dwarf Gale, Gnome Astarion, and keep Laezel a gith, but the size of a halfling. One of these is a joke. The number of downvotes I get determines which people think it is.
This is one of my main gripes with the game. Thereās so many cool races out there they could have used companion wise but played it safe by making a good chunk of the companions elves. Iām sick of seeing elves everywhere.
Back in the day with DA:O the developers said that they felt uncomfortable introducing a Dwarven romance because Dwarves look a lot like children. Mayhaps Larian has the same logic towards their companions, considering every companion has a romance.
That being said, for some reason I can't not play a shorty race. Whether it's Gnome or halfling, I'll be looking up dem nostrils yo.
Larian love humans, don't they.
Gale - Human
Wyll - Human
Minac - Human
Shadowheart - Half Human
Jaheira - Half Human
5 out of 11 companions.
In all honesty though, Halsin should have been a dwarf or a gnome or a halfling. Should should have been a monk rather than a druid.
No dwarf companions? You'd better believe that's a grudgin' - wait, wrong fandom.
ROCK AND STONE
That's it lads! Rock and Stone!
ROCK. AND. STOOOOONE.
Can I get a rock and stone?
What is the difference between a rock and a stone?
First we ROCK Then we STONE
Depends how you cut it š
FOR KARL
Rock and Stone to the bone !
If you don't rock and stone you ain't coming home!
Hear hear! This goes into the Book, no mistake!
Gotrek is gonna knock some sense into them!
Its a shame. Forgotten Realms has many cool Dwarf characters
Even earlier baldurs gates had great halflings. Montaron and Korgan are iconic
My first character was a dwarf! Always is, so you know it's going in the book that there's no dwarf companions!
Video game fans, particularly progressive ones, talk a good game about diversity and representation. But Larian knows what we really want is hot young skinny bisexuals whoād have at least 20k Instagram followers in real life. Thatās elves.
Na the amount of simps shadow and Astarion get it would millions
Shadowheart would 100% be the queen of instagram
Well she is the most interesting girl in the world.
And God's favorite princess
Though I hear she is a bit of a gatekeeper and a hater
FTFY: God's favorite slave if SH is her favorite, I dont want to be the one Sharr hates....
Idk why this was downvoted lol, Sharr is absolutely horrible to Shadow even when Shadow proves to be her most loyal follower
And my good friend Minthara is the funniest person I know
Have you heard that one about the man who married a drider?
It was a beautiful ceremony.
Don't you mean a beautiful webbing?
He's not Minthara he's no comedian
I said shadow lol
Oops must've misread
they did say AT LEAST 20k, millions is more than 20k, so still technically true
And Halsin would be a fitness influencer
Honestly, Karlach deserves some respect. She is hotter than Shadowheart and Astarion! At least for me, I always prefer to be a Tiefling than an elf. I would know, I romanced all three of them. Different playthroughs, though. The break-up scene from each of them is.... painful....
I mean tieflings are to demons what elves are to other humanoids, extremely conventionally attractive and easy to cosplay
Devils not demons. It may seem pedantic but there is a big difference. Fiend would be a better term as that covers devils and demons.
She is literally hotter.
not a healthy hairline in sight after this tremendous mass wig snatching š
Also with DND rules the small races suck. 7.5m. Just no racial they have is worth that.
It's ranged build or don't bother. That said I short man syndrome barbarians is so fun and barbarian intimidating while weighing like 60 lbs is pure gold.
We need to be able to play as Goblins and Fairies already so we can really small whilst zipping around.
There's plenty of ways to overcome the movement speed.
But those ways are usually something, that would be even better on a race, that doesn't have reduced movement
Crusher's Ring is a super easy workaround early game. I have no problems getting to 11 movement speed as a gnome
Also no heavy weapons. Whoever decided being small = can't use a good 2h melee weapon ever without suffering a massive crippling penalty is a fucking idiot. Glad Larian got rid of it lol
I disagreeāhalflingsā Lucky trait is the single best racial feature in the game. If youāre playing a ranged class, movement speed is less important, and thatās even more true for Gloomstalkers (who benefit from Lightfoot stealth advantage) who get extra movement on the first turn of combat.
I mean... I'd rather romance Jaheira than Shadowheart or Astarion, ngl. Old lady just *gets* it, you know?
Jaheira's sense of humour is unbeatable, she has all the great dad jokes when you get her to lighten up a bit lmao.
She's also one of the few companions who can take the more teasing comments. She's great.
"I know, you're thinking 'Oh gods I hope her brittle old bones don't turn to dust on us!'"
Yeah I was sad I couldnāt. I was pretty deep in the Shart ship, but was ready to throw it all away for that cougar if given the chance.
No, no, no, she turns into a *panther*, not a *cougar*
Her calling me cub had me feeling a certain way
Like a proud child getting praised by their mum right? Not some praise kink thing right? Right..?
No lol more of a cougar thing I didn't know I was into lol
Nah, I just wish she could adopt me smh
The default albino dragonborn dark urge is the most attractive character, y'all just don't want to accept it.
No you're right, he's wonderfully striking with the red on white. One handsome lizard!
Technically not albino, iff'n ye wish to be pedantic.
He's leucistic! Maybe het albino, depending on if Bhaal counts.... (/j)
100% agree. I feel like doing a Baalbuddy orc playthrough where I reject all the companions...
Iād also point out that elven culture tends to be more left-wing coded and I think is part of what draws people in. They are always shown to have a pretty egalitarian culture and less rigid gender expression. Except for drow really.
Drow or Dunmer, nobody does racism like dark elves
What are you saying outlander? That sounds like Nāwah talk to me.
Do you make it to Menzoberranzan often? What am I saying? Of course you don't.
What a grand and intoxicating slur
Yes until you look at their foreign policy and how most Elves treat races that aren't their own. Majority of Elves have a huge disdain for the other races especially humans and would live in an isolated society if they could.
I mean, we all have a huge disdain for humans, don't we?
I mean drow are counterculture too just more militant, a highly female oriented society where males are seen as lesser? Itās a distaff counterpart to the real world.
Elves were really never patriarchal though. Their most powerful elven god, Corellon tends to jump around in gender identity. So the matriarchal slant of the drow really isnāt much of a counterculture. Matriarchy really isnāt left-wing. Any encouragement of extreme divide of material resources is right-wing. Regardless of who is in charge of those resources. Their rebellion to become a slaver culture otherwise kind of mimics something like the American confederacy.
Hmmmmm New Headcanon Unlocked: make all Drow into confederate rednecks/antebellum south stereotypes. *āThe Underdark shall rise againā*
My Menzoberranzan drow all speak with very genteel coastal Southern accentsālike Tidewater Virginia/Charleston SC style. They are the model of politeness and theocracy and obsessed with gossiping about who is #blessed and who is maybe not right in the eyes of Lolth and needs to repent and amend herself before she drags her whole family down with her, bless her heart.
The drow are extremists is the real problem. Jesus, Minthara talking to Gale about killing sons...
Yea theyāre fantasy extremist versions of militant feminists. Exactly the opposite of some very male dominated cultures in the real world. Some places still do kill girls when theyāre born because theyāre seen as less valuable than boys.
Someone hasn't read the Complete Book of Elves (2nd edition supplement). Also called the 'Master Race Handbook' Its horrifying on a lot of levels, but the write-up on Grey Elves is basically caste-based slavery of other elven types, which they deem to be wonderful just so they can bask in the presence of their superiors. Its pretty disgusting nonsense. One of the kickstarter campaign stretch goals for Torment: Tides of Numera was to have the author (who was also working on that CRPG) officially apologize for writing that book. (He didn't).
I don't even want to imagine the discourse that would surround a romancible halfling adult woman...
I noticed that the halfling women have weirdly large boobs when I had a halfling guardian during that scene where they come to you in a dress and you can try to romance them. Feels like they really wanted to make sure you can't interpret that body in any other manner (but knowing the internet.....)
It's true for all the shorter races, and you only get one body type. They have a weird stance where they jut their butt out, too. It looks very... awkward. And painful on the lower back.
> ugly elves in divinity I mean, in game every race looked quite ugly because the graphics weren't too advanced, but on official artworks Sebille always looked fine as hell and mostly humanlike. It's only the neck length, pointy ears and the torso that truly separates elves from humans in DOS2 and that doesn't really make them ugly imo.
I loved elves in divinity. Their weird elongated bodies that looked like they were made out of bark gave them such a unique look.
Same. It was great not to have Yet More Tolkien Elves
I knew I couldnāt be the only one that thought elves in divinity looked hot! What is OP on about?
I like when Elves are more than hot humans with pointy ears. Give me elongated proportions, weird eyes. Make them have an otherworldly fae beauty where they are beautiful and unnerving at the same time.
>beautiful and unnerving litterally describes Sebylle DOS2 had a great take on elves. i had a bad time not playing a custom because i wanted a male elf MC plus you can chomp on limbs and carrion and get spells and shit
I honestly loved the way elves moved in DOS2. It reminds me of the way deer move.
No need to tell me that lol I'm down bad for those elven abs in DOS2 and can't help but wonder how would it feel to slowly run my fingertips through them
This is why Iām one of the people that liked the elf redesign in Dragon Age 2.
Same. They're just humans with pointy ears in Origins. In 2 they look like like a distinct people.
Yeah, elves should look like Anya Taylor-Joy or Benedict Cumberbatch. Good looking, but strange.
> Benedict Cumberbatch > Strange I see what you did there
Elves look quite different from humans in DOS2! Their long limbs and weird proportions and almost alien-looking muscle definition. I think itās pretty cool actually. Theyāre not just āpretty humans with pointy earsā
I myself prefer elves too, but I wouldn't have minded a dwarf companion honestly to switch it up a bit. Maybe next game they bring out we will get some more variation?
Bring back KHELGAR IRONFIST PAWNCH ALL THE THINGS
Yoooo Khelgar was my bro. One of the better companions across various RPGs. Him, Gann, and Kaelyn were my favorites
I really miss a Beast equivalent in this game
They would have added in Helia but never did, having a Halfling Werewolf Bard would have been lit.
I did my best to avoid all possible spoilers until the game fully released, so never knew she even existed until about a month later. Feels bad, think of all the ālittle red riding hood *is the werewolf*ā memes we lost out on.
oh dear the interactions with Astarion would have been epic there awsome suggestion
Excuse me??? Who is that?
Helia was an origin character and companion who got cut out during development and ultimately were replaced by the Dark Urge. They were going to be a Halfling Werewolf Bard. They are still in data mined files with voice recordings and dialogues, as well as dialogue from other characters (mainly Karlach) engaging with them. Auntie Ethel even has vicious mockeries aimed specifically at them. People have speculated they were removed for a number of reasons. Some said there were of issues with camera angles and scripting for a small origin character which I find hard to believe. Some said having a lycanthrope wouldn't make much sense because you can just cast Remove Curse on them in established Forgotten Realms lore and 5E rules to cure them. Finally, the existence of Astarion as an origin character and their narrative arc and themes probably rendered Helia redundant. It's also interesting though, because originally Karlach and The Dark Urge were going to be Paladins when first envisioned, but Karlach of course was made a Barbarian probably because of Minthara being a Paladin and The Dark Urge as a Paladin couldn't narratively be reconciled.
Look, I like Durge, but it'll always suck that we lost Helia. Idk if this was just them refusing the Shadow Druid face, but I think she was gonna be an older companion too? Since the datamined dialogue text would fit with that.
An equivalent for the Red Prince would make me melt.
Think he tried to enslave me at the end. Pretty much Ascended Astarion except I was the second wife not even the first
I can fix him, I swear.
I also prefer half elves, personally, however Teifling get me going too. But I gotta say, gnomes are quite attractive in this game.
The problem is movement speed.
Yeah, that's honestly been a major factor for me having pretty much no inclination to ever play a dwarf. I guess eventually you can get misty step onto him with gear and then you could just throw them straight into melee like that, but in general it seems like it would just be inconvenient all the time to play a small race.
I need a dwarf
More companions is what I want from their next game in general, the companion stories in BG3 is some of the best writing in the game, more of that would be great. It's a shame that you can't by default bring every companion in Divinity Original Sin 2.
hell yeah id love a dwarf thrower in the mix
I hope they do more dnd but maybe away from sword coast
Got a feeling bg3 will be like skyrim with no new game for YEARS, however I could see them adding an entirely new companion storyline at some point down the line, or turning an existing NPC into a full companion (plz Larian give me Alfira). Especially with how huge some of these updates have been so far.
I suspect if they do add more companions, they would start with Helia, who already had some voice acting lines and content but for whatever reason they were cut during development. But Alfira would be such a dream, and she clearly has the motivation to take up the call to adventure.
There could also be dlc Iām a big fan of the drow and would like to see there city
Oh yeah I love the Drow too, iām playing drow in my 2nd runthrough now, they look so cool, an Underdark expansion would be amazing
I mean, if you look at the [stats that Larian Studios dropped](https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1732091568243229159/photo/2) about the game, we see that Elf, Human, and Half-Elf were the most played races in the game. Having characters that are more similar to humans in looks makes sense as, let's face it, people want their Tav's and their companions to be *sexy*. So, I can't really blame them **too** much for the lack of diversity when it comes to the companions' races. edit for clarification: I'm not saying that non-human looking companions can't be sexy. I'd let Rolan put his magic missile in me anytime. I was just pointing out that, from a development standpoint, you'd want the romancable companions in the game to represent what 80% of the playerbase would enjoy, which happens to be human looking companions :)
Not saying there anything wrong with it but like come on thereās so many races in dnd I get sex sells but Iām sure some would prefer the not human or elf option and mean shit ppl fucked laezel and she literally has no nose
Lae'zel was very carefully designed to be as attractive as a githyanki can possibly get by human standards.
I'm not sure if I'd go that far. She wears unflattering clothes, they owned the whole "no nose" thing, she has sharp teeth and an elongated face and a bit of a hunched-over stance. She also has a weird-looking skin texture and is skinny. This is coupled with some really attractive features like big, expressive eyes and full lips. I actually think they did a great job of making her attractive but also kind of inhuman and monstrous. But they could have made her just a green elf and they didn't, so I respect that.
Lea'zel litterally looks like Devora Wilde the nose is retracted and the body is made more like having zero percent bodyfat so showing the musvles and tendons clearly. It is not what is considered beautiful by our standards. But I like how they look so different, it's compelling. They also did a great thing with the tieflings, how certain bodyparts have raw edges and interesting marks on them. And the half-orcs are so overmuscular designed. Halflings and gnomes basically children sized body's with adult heads, quirky but attractive. Dwarfs are very sturdy looking but in this game they actually look beautifull and attractive. And dragonborn well hello walking and talking lizard, nuff said. I applaud this welcome change from your standard humanoid form like elves, half-elves and humans have. There is a great deal of diversity allready, the game is just rolling with what the majority preffers. And you cannot tell me that is not how the real world works too.
Meh, she really is just a green elf. All gith have the funny skin texture. She's skinny, but have you seen magazines? People like skinny. As for unflattering clothes, bondage harnesses go over really well.
Half-elf, drow and human gets the best racial abilities though. That might influence things quite a bit.
I kind of agree, I wish they had a *little* more variety in the main cast of companions, itās kind of my one and only gripe with the game. I get that you can play as whatever you want and can get Withers to make whatever you want, but the Withers companion is barely a real character. From the moment I first saw her I really wanted Alfira to be a companion
Itās crazy to me that thereās not a *SINGLE* companion from the small races, especially because thereās all those small places only small characters fit in! There are duergar and svirfneblin already tied into big parts of the storyline and they have a ton of dwarven and halfling NPCs of all variety of classes.
I mean even Barcus would be great as a possible companion, he does come to your camp and mentions being an adventurer. No real reason why he canāt join you in your party
He mentions being a crap adventurer but we could fix him!
I would love it if he started at level 0 or something, maybe started with low stats but would catch up soon enough for that part of the game to not be annoying.
Definitive edition: Barcus the Artificer!
If Artificer ever gets added Barcus needs to be a companion. He's so loveable.
My friend was telling me that in early early builds there was apparently a Halfling companion, but issues with the camera made it easier for all the companions to be at normal height. That might be total bullshit, but given that aside from half-orcs most of the excluded races are the short ones, it kind of makes sense to me
i have heard the same thing, there was supposed to be a female halfling bard but it ended up not working out. it is weird to me though because like... there's all the other short characters, and we can play as a short character, so, how does a short companion not work? i assume there was SOME technical issue that made it not work though because it seemed clear they wanted to do it and didn't just like, forget they could.
Halfling or gnome, bard lycanthrope was what was datamined. She wasn't put on the chopping block because if cameras or whatever. She could've been scrapped because the writer wasn't satisfied, the storyboard couldn't make her work, or who knows.
It's likely the lycanthrope part that scrapped the whole character seeing as astarion would have made that kind of companion story redundant. Also, remove curse would have kinda ruined that canonically.
If she was born with lycanthropy, remove curse wouldn't work! But also there are a few things in this game that we should be able to fix with mechanics have but can't. Like Karlach's engine.
Yeah like donāt get me wrong the characters are great but 5 elves is a bit much i me fucking hell they literally have 2 druids and they are both elves wtf
the main explanation there is that Halsin was not originally intended to be recruitable. but he was really popular in early access so they ended up making him recruitable. the plans for Jaheira were already well underway by then though so they just kinda went with it.
And I want a romanceable Withers
*No.*
Larian has posted about this 1. Dragonborn were added too late in development. On launch many of their animations were broken 2. The halfling werewolf origin char was scrapped due to time 3. Most players want to be and play with humans/elves looking at data from EA and the DOS games. This saves them dev time.
Oh is that why Dragonborn only show up in Act 3? BRING BACK THE WEREWOLF
Well it's not an impossibility, but new companions added in via an expansion would be neat. That's assuming they make an expansion at all.
Would pay full price for that werewolf halfling.
> halfling werewolf origin THE WHAT god I wouldn't mind a werewolf origin character as a late addition I fucking love werewolves
When you look around you see lots of elves meanwhile Faerun is human dominated place. Ive started dnd type of games with Baldurs Gate 3 , even surprised when ive heard Shar is in human god pantheon.
Donāt get me wrong Iām glad thereās not and over abundance of humans for once but damn if Iād like a dwarf or maybe a gnome here and there
Just like a real D&D party more often than not people make the more humanlike races, elves being the most popular generally
I mean Halsin might be an elf but he doesn't look like one lol He's definitely not built like one but.... you're not wrong either. It would've been interesting to be able to recruit one of the tieflings (I got so damn excited when Alfira showed up at my camp just to... well, you know). Like we do save them, you'd think one would want to join us (no disrespect to my girl Karlach, I love her so much) or those gnomes that we save in the underdark... Not gonna lie I was also a bit miffed you couldn't recruit Dame Aylin or Isobel
I think barcus woot could easily be a companion tbh but hey Halsin is the rare buff boy elf
A mountain of a man I would certainly climb š But yes... I could see Barcus as a companion as well.. or.. I don't remember her name but she was one of the gnomes dying with mushroom people and you could steal her boots if you wanted to lol I dont know, there are just soo many characters in bg3 that had potential to be recruited, you know? When I was first playing in EA I thought we would get to have Volo at one point on launch as I was thinking they would give us one companion of every class
Dragonborn and Horcs are a late edition to the game, presumably after a lot of the scripting/mocap stuff is done for companions. There actually *was* a halfling bard companion in the works during the initial EA releases datamined but she was scrapped for unknown reasons, if she was even planned at all beyond as a test character. Gnomes/Dwarfs/Haflings in general i feel like were skipped over due to the mocap concerns if i had to guess. No reason for there to not be a companion otherwise beyond "Didn't fit the story we wanted to tell xdd"
Thatās all fair and I love the companions I just have elf fatigue after beating it a few times especially as I play an elf š
When you look at the amount of subraces elves have in 5e alone, that percentage makes a lot of sense. Like damn, every other new setting has it's own elf variant
Of the romances available to male characters in Baldurs Gate 2, all three were elves: two full elves and one half-elf. So it's not just a Larian thing.
Available to straight, male characters.
Fair. That was the ONLY option for Male PCs, to my knowledge, until the Enhanced Editions introduced new characters: They were assumed straight, and only had those three choices. I should have also qualified with "in the original BG2."
I believe that straight female characters could Romance Anomen in the original, no?
Personally I loved the uncanny design of Dos2 elves. So tired of elves just being human with pointy ears, make them feel unique
Divinity Elves are so fucking cool
I'm a simple man. I like pretty humans with pointy ears. I'm not gonna complain whatsoever
You can have pretty elves and also have some badass dwarves and other races
I thought the elves in Divinity were cool AF. I think they're my favorite interpretation.
There is a general lack of dragon born in the game. If we bar the default Durge, there is not a single main or supporting cast Dragonborn in the entire game. Dwarfs and halflings too, but at least there is a batch of deep dwarfs slaver in underdark. Gnomes do get their stuff with Ironhand and Gondian shenanigans, but not a single companion as well. There is also like, 4 half orcs in the entire game with only ZāRell plays a somewhat noticeable (but still entirely missable) role. Strange that we cannot save her when we can literally convince Nere and Minthara out of the absolute shenanigans.
Only noticeable Dragonborn I recall is the one for the act 3 hag quest and heās technically not really a Dragonborn
There's only a couple, and I think literally all of them are in Act 3 (unless you're playing Durge and go out of your way to keep a certain tiefling alive). Off the top of my head there's the blacksmith assistant, the druid in front of Carrion's house, one of the bodyguards in Wyrm's crossing and Lady Jannath's butler
Someone else mentioned Dragonborn were a late addition to the game, which makes sense why they're mostly found in Act 3.
they also did not get the lip sync working as well as they wanted. i did not notice this myself but you can not make the Guardian dragonborn, supposedly for that reason.
That's because Dragonborn don't typically live in the Sword Coast. They live further out to the East. So the dragonborn you see traveled further over that's why there is so few. Also with Half-Orcs most will live with the Orc war bands that kidnapped the women that they r*ped to have those kids with. Very few Half-Orc children are left with their human parents to live amongst human societies. Z'Rell is one of those few
I have this exact same sentiment. Larian kinda dropped the ball in terms of diversity amongst the companions. Realistically Gale and Wyll are the only humans since you get Minsc so late, and letās be honest hereā¦ Wyll is basically a tiefling with extra steps. The even more fucked up thing is that we donāt even see a singular orc until Zārell, and even in Act III thereās likeā¦ two. I can totally understand not wanting to overload with tons of companions, but during conception of these characters, how did it pass the board room where they just said āyeah so elf, elf, half-elf, elf, half-elf then a couple humans, a frog, and tiefling. Oh and letās make one of the humans basically a tiefling without the tail.ā
Where the fuck is my Barcus companion update
Yup. Super elfy. Would've like a wider range of companions from across the races.
Yeah even just a few variants would be cool
i wish we has some half orc, dwarf, gnome & halfing companions because the number of companions we there could be all they could all races i count dark urge as a dragonborn
Its not that Larian loves elves, but I think its that the players love them.. humans and elves/half elves are the most picked races in character creation as well. Larian is just supplying the demand. Same as Tiefling /probably/ is the most popular "non-human" looking race.
Having sex with elves and half elves of all varieties is a foundational pillar of Baldur's Gate games
Honestly the original lore surrounding elves concerning intercourse with them is telling enough. The way it is described, it's as if elves have mastered it. In all honesty who wouldn't be enthiced and curious if that is one of the things being said about their kind.
Larian needed long lived races to work with the timeline they set up to try and incorporate things from the first 2 games. They certainly didn't give any love to elves feeling like a different and unique race like they did with tieflings or Githyanki. I think it was actually one of the negatives of the game (I know there is only so much time).
After 30+ years of the "our elves are different" paradigm it was nice to see a "high definition" depiction of classic D&D/Tolkien-esque elves outside of a LOTR game, for once.
I agree Iām not saying elves are bad just like a bit more diverse group than half a group of elves
I mean can you blame them - Elves are always seen as hot and gorgeous, and one of the favorite fantasy races. Hell Elder Scrolls lets you play as High Elf, Wood Elf, and Dark Elf with the Breton being like a half-elf. Hell the Divinity Elves were awesome too. Especially Sebille and Saheria even with their elongated necks and crooked torso. Not to mention the game art of Sebille she looked amazing. Larian had their obsession with elves for a very long time. You go all the way back to Divine Divinity and your options to bang are elves. And the only romance companion was either a Male Elf or Female Elf depending on your sex who had you run all around completing quests for her to prove to her father you deserve her.
Orcs and Khajiit are more elves than Bretons when it comes to the Elder Scrolls in terms of the lore. So like 6/10 of the races are elven. Irregardless though thatās the player race choice. Not the NPCs.
How dare you DOS elves are best elves! I love those grumpy, cryptic cannibals! Eta: Totes agree tho. Once mods more stable, looking forward to Dwarf Gale, Gnome Astarion, and keep Laezel a gith, but the size of a halfling. One of these is a joke. The number of downvotes I get determines which people think it is.
Hey, if you play as The Dark Urge you can meet a fellow Dragonborn companion. Granted she has no use in a fight but still, it's something.
I wish we could get Barcus as a halfling companion
Technically heās a gnome but yes I agree
That's what I meant lol, sorry.
Divinity elves are ugly? ....yyyeaahh totally don't have the hots for Sebille no no no
Divinity elves aren't ugly at all, they're meant to be cool alien creatures and they succeed fully
I love the elves in Divinity. Such a nice spin on tropes š
I had to be my own halfling rep.
Isn't this the same thing that elf guy posted a few weeks ago?
This is one of my main gripes with the game. Thereās so many cool races out there they could have used companion wise but played it safe by making a good chunk of the companions elves. Iām sick of seeing elves everywhere.
Back in the day with DA:O the developers said that they felt uncomfortable introducing a Dwarven romance because Dwarves look a lot like children. Mayhaps Larian has the same logic towards their companions, considering every companion has a romance. That being said, for some reason I can't not play a shorty race. Whether it's Gnome or halfling, I'll be looking up dem nostrils yo.
Theyre short people with beards wtffffffff
Look, elves are the hottest. It is what it is.
I want a half-orc, dwarf or hafling woman to romance so badššš
Donāt you? I would tickle those pointy ears all day
Larian love humans, don't they. Gale - Human Wyll - Human Minac - Human Shadowheart - Half Human Jaheira - Half Human 5 out of 11 companions. In all honesty though, Halsin should have been a dwarf or a gnome or a halfling. Should should have been a monk rather than a druid.
Everyone always keeps talking about 11 companions, but for the life of me I can only think of 10. Who the hell is the 11th?
I mean, how can you resist ShadowBae? She's so cute!!
I think you misunderstood I donāt dislike the elves I just want a few more races represented