Best Companions Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate companions are recruitable Baldur's Gate NPCs in BioWare's cRPG series of 1998-2001, Baldur's Gate.
Best Companions Baldur's Gate 1
There are 25 companions in Baldur's Gate and 17 companions in BG2. The best companion in Baldur's Gate 1 is Edwin, and the best companion in Baldur's Gate 2 is Aerie.
Top-tier BG1 Companions
- Edwin (gets more Vancian Magic System spellslots)
- Imoen (when dual-classed to Conjurer)
- Khalid (melee + ranged)
- Coran (THAC0 Lord, Dex 20, good thief and archer)
- Kagain (Supertanker, Con 20 = regen)
- Kivan (ranged, good archer)
- Shar-Teel (when dualed to Thief)
- Xzar (when dualed to Cleric)
Mid-tier BG1 Companions
The mid-tier includes everyone that isn't listed in the top or bottom tiers. Namely:
Bottom-tier BG1 Companions
The bottom-tier includes any companion that isn't recruitable until reaching BG City. Namely:
Baldur's Gate Companion Alignment
The alignment of companions is an important consideration in forming a Baldur's Gate party, since most players want their party to stick together for campaign duration. Good-aligned companions prefer a high Baldur's Gate Reputation, Evil ones low and Neutral ones neither high nor low.
Companion Pairs in BG1
The vast majority of companions are recruited as individuals, but there are also four pairs:
Once recruited, these companions won't adventure without their other half unless that other half falls in combat or is intentionally killed off by the player and has their corpse kicked out of the party.
Baldur's Gate Companion Quests
There are several companion quests in Baldur's Gate. For example, Safana's companion quest involves raiding treasure in a cave near the seaside. In addition, some companion quests clash. For example, Edwin wants to hunt down Dynaheir whereas Minsc wants to free her. Some companions, such as Coran, have more than one quest.
In Baldur's Gate 2, companion quests are longer and contain a lot more dialogue. All companion quests are covered in the relevant article on the companion.
Baldur's Gate Companion Guide
In BG1, un-recruited companions scale to party level in thresholds. For example, a first level party can recruit a first level Edwin with almost nothing to his name (some Exp, a few spells scribed to his spellbook); or a sixth level party can recruit a sixth level Edwin who has already earned over 40,000 Exp and scribed eight scrolls to his spellbook, including Haste (in Dynaheir's case, Fireball).
It is best to recruit non-mage companions early in order to control their proficiencies and HPs, whereas it can be advantageous to delay our recruitment of mage companions until we reach sixth level. That way, mage companions will already have some good spells such as Fireball and Haste, which are not easily found. On the other hand, it is inconvenient to not have mages in the party for the first six levels.
The intent of companion scaling is to ensure that companions remain somewhat useful in the advent their services are required later in the campaign, but meta-gamers may choose to remain solo or only adventure with Imoen until the sixth level is reached, and only then recruit a party, thereby dodging the experience point leach of having five other companions around for those first six levels (both quest & kill Exp is divided "evenly", more or less, amongst the party members).
Apart from needing foreknowledge in order to solo the first six levels [1], the downside is the inability to control companion proficiencies and HPs, though it's a small price to pay for such a huge advantage.
[1] Not a problem for meta-gamers, and for Bards and Thieves that's only 20,000 Exp.
Best Companions Baldur's Gate 2
There are 17 companions in Baldur's Gate 2. Companions range in level from 7-17, but most are going to be around 12th level at the time of recruitment.
Multi-classes are King in the sequel, especially arcane MCs such as Fighter Mage BG2. Thus, the best companions are as follows:
Top-tier BG2 Companions
- Aerie (multi-class)
- Jan Jansen (multi-class)
- Jaheira BG2 (multi-class)
- Edwin BG2 (+spellslots, but for good players they are superfluous)
Mid-tier BG2 Companions
Bottom-tier BG2 Companions
- Viconia BG2 (pure class and divine)
- Sarevok BG2 (ToB-only) [cf. BG1 Sarevok]
- Yoshimo (pure thief + leaves)
- Imoen BG2 (unless Spellhold is prioritized; then, she is just under Edwin, dual-class)
- Cernd (werewolf lol)
Baldur's Gate Companion Reactivity
Baldur's Gate companion reactivity consists in reputation, reaction, faction and personality.
Readers are referred to cRPG reactivity for a general overview of the concept of reactivity.
Remember that our Reputation score can be increased or decreased by way of quest outcomes, temple donation (up to 18), theft in front of a witness, slaying of neutrals or Slayer transformation (BG2 only).
Criteria of Assessment for Baldur's Gate Companions
We should ask ourselves the following when assessing a companion's worth:
Such traits can be decisive factors in how a companion ranks.
- What Baldur's Gate Class are they, what Baldur's Gate spells can they cast and what Baldur's Gate Weapons can they wield?
- How cRPG combat encounter design impacting / dictating is the companion over the course of the campaign?
- How easy is it to recruit the companion, how early can they be recruited, and is their service to the party long-lasting?
- What are the companion's stats like?
- Can the companion dual-class Baldur's Gate?
- Are they arcane-capable?
- Are factional rivalry or personality clashes factors?
Such traits can be decisive factors in how a companion ranks.
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