Last updated: 25 June 2026

Baldur's Gate 3 Companions Guide

Baldur's Gate 3 features eight origin companions you can recruit across the three acts, each with a distinct class, personality, and story arc. Knowing where to find them, what role they fill in combat, and what they value in a party member is the fastest way to build a crew that both survives the journey and actually likes you by the end.

01How Companions Work

Your active party holds up to four characters including your own. Every companion you recruit but leave out of the party waits at your camp, available to swap in between rests. Companions are not just roster slots — they are fully voiced characters with personal questlines, and the choices you make affect their approval rating toward you.

Approval is a hidden numeric score per companion that rises and falls based on dialogue choices, actions, and how you treat NPCs. Companions need to be in your active party to register approval events — characters resting at camp hear nothing. A high approval rating unlocks deeper conversations, romantic options, and unique story outcomes. Let it bottom out and some companions will simply leave.

You can recruit companions in any order, and most remain available until a specific point-of-no-return in each act. A few companions are mutually exclusive by default — though clever play can unlock both.

02Act 1 Origin Companions

Five of the six origin companions are found within the opening region of Act 1. The Nautiloid crash scatters them across the Ravaged Beach and the surrounding wilderness, and you can recruit all five before you ever enter the Emerald Grove. The sixth, Karlach, is a short detour north along the Risen Road.

03Act 1 — Minthara and Halsin

Two additional companions are tied to the major Act 1 choice between the Goblin Camp and the Emerald Grove. They are not origin companions — they cannot be played as a main character — but they are fully voiced with personal questlines.

Halsin is a Wood Elf Druid (Circle of the Moon) and the First Druid of the Emerald Grove. He has been captured and is being held prisoner somewhere inside the Goblin Camp. Free him, deal with the goblin leaders, and ensure the Grove is not attacked — Halsin will reward you by becoming an ally. He joins your party as a full companion later in Act 2 once his own questline (lifting the Shadow Curse from the lands surrounding Moonrise Towers) gets underway.

Minthara is a Lolth-Sworn Drow Paladin (Oathbreaker) and one of the three leaders directing the goblin assault. Traditionally she could only be recruited by raiding and destroying the Emerald Grove alongside her — a violent path that permanently loses you Halsin, Wyll, and Karlach. Since Patch 5, however, there is a non-lethal route: commit a minor crime in front of her inside the Goblin Camp to trigger a fight, then knock her unconscious (do not kill her) without drawing the rest of the camp into a permanent hostile state. She will reappear imprisoned at Moonrise Towers in Act 2, where you can free and recruit her.

04Companion Approval: Key Principles

Every companion has personal values that govern what they approve and disapprove of. Understanding these tendencies is more useful than memorising long approval lists.

• Astarion favours self-interest, clever manipulation, and showing little mercy to those who deserve none. He disapproves of selfless heroics and being servile to authority. Avoid agreeing to anything that makes the group look weak or subservient.
• Gale is easy to please: genuine curiosity, helping those in need, and intellectual engagement all earn favour. He is forgiving of moral grey areas but will not tolerate outright cruelty or insults directed at him personally.
• Lae'zel respects strength, directness, and ruthless efficiency. She approves when you assert dominance, dismiss weakness, and show no hesitation in combat. She strongly dislikes indecision, mercy toward enemies, and excessive use of illithid powers.
• Shadowheart values pragmatism, privacy, and not prying into things that do not concern you. She dislikes overly aggressive confrontations and pushing her to reveal secrets she is not ready to share. Her deeper approval path opens as her personal questline develops.
• Wyll is the most straightforwardly heroic companion. Help people, stand up to bullies, protect the innocent, and his approval climbs steadily. He is forgiving of minor moral slips but draws a hard line if you raid the Grove or make pacts that harm innocents.
• Karlach loves enthusiasm, fighting evil, and genuine warmth toward others. She reserves her fury for villains and will not stand for cruelty against innocent NPCs. Telling her that sleeping with her was a mistake carries the single largest disapproval penalty in the game.
• Halsin cares deeply about nature, balance, and the well-being of those who cannot defend themselves. He approves of protecting wildlife, helping refugees, and sparing lives where possible. He will disapprove sharply if you are needlessly destructive.
• Minthara respects power and cunning above all. She approves when you make decisive, dominant choices and are willing to use any means necessary. Weakness and excessive sentimentality earn her contempt.

05Building an Effective Party

The four-character party limit means you will always leave someone at camp. A balanced squad covers four broad roles: a frontline melee fighter, a healer or support caster, a skill-check specialist, and an arcane damage dealer. The default cast of companions covers all of these naturally.

A reliable all-rounder combination for most of Act 1 is Lae'zel as your melee anchor, Shadowheart for healing and condition removal, Gale for ranged magic firepower, and either Astarion (for stealth, lockpicking, and Sleight of Hand checks) or Wyll (for consistent Eldritch Blast ranged damage and solid Charisma skills). Swap Karlach in for Lae'zel if you prefer raw Barbarian fury over Battle Master control.

Each companion can be freely multiclassed at a level-up screen — you are never locked into their default subclass. Shadowheart is commonly respecced at Withers (a camp NPC who offers paid respecs) into a Life or Light Cleric for stronger healing, and Astarion works extremely well as a Rogue/Fighter multiclass for extra Action Surge burst turns.

06Keeping Your Companions

Certain story decisions can permanently remove a companion from your playthrough. These are not always flagged clearly in dialogue, so it is worth knowing the major tripwires ahead of time without spoiling the story itself.

• Raiding the Emerald Grove causes Wyll and Karlach to leave (they will not follow someone who massacres refugees), and makes Halsin permanently unavailable.
• Gale will leave if his approval drops below a critical threshold or if you ignore the wizard Elminster when he appears with an urgent message for Gale.
• Lae'zel can be permanently lost if killed during a particular late-Act-1 encounter tied to the Dream Guardian storyline. Save before any ambush involving Githyanki patrols.
• Wyll also departs if you choose to kill a specific character tied to his warlock pact in the Mind Flayer Colony during Act 2.
• Shadowheart may leave depending on choices made in the Gauntlet of Shar and her relationship with the Nightsong. Dialogue in that questline must be handled with awareness of her personal arc.

The safest habit is to save before any major camp confrontation or story decision that involves a companion's personal quest. Withers at your camp will eventually offer full party respecs and can raise dead companions for a gold cost — but he cannot undo a companion who chose to walk away.