My character is a GOOlock, and I’d like to play with Shadowheart, Gale and Astarion as companions. I’ll be open to future companions, like Halsin and Karlach, but I’d avoid Wyll (and possibly Lae’zel, but I could swap her in if necessary) in this playthrough.
What are their best build to syngerize between them? I’d keep their main class, but I’m open to suggestions about spells, abilities and build.
MC: GOO Bladelock 6/Paladin 6 - You need a frontliner and that comp noticeably doesn’t have one.
Shadowheart: Light or Tempest Cleric 11/Druid 1 - Druid lvl adds a ton of spells, Shillelagh, and only delays progression by one lvl. Polymorph the defining spell that made Trickery domain was pretty severely nerfed in game so you will want to change her subclass.
Gale: Conjuration Wizard 12 - Wizards are great and Benign Transportation is super handy.
Astarion: Thief Rogue 3/Swords Bard 7 - Sharpshooter Duel-wield Hand-crossbows. It’s a Machinegun. Plus you end up with a ton skills and Expertise.
Wow thanks! That’s a very in-depth build! I’ll surely experiment with this, since respeccing isn’t that expensive
I’m also running a GOOlock in this full rollout (tried to refresh the team with each new beta release), but I’ve avoided Astarion entirely and Gale’s beginning to grate on me — to say nothing of Volo barely avoiding a knuckle sammich every chat (Halsin & Lae’zel are in camp unless a plot point requires their presence). So, I’m running Shadowheart and Karlach, plus Wyll for the bff love triad + pet boy scout. I’m curious what led to your decision to build your party in that way? Stats only or conversation options? Plot remixing?
I was very anti-Laz until I took her with me for the crech stuff. With a Lockadin MC and Karlach, I figured I didn’t need a fighter but could check out monk. She earned her way into the team through that one respec. Now she’s a Tavern brawler Monk with a fighter dip who just absolutely deletes enemies the first round. I had expected to leave her in camp for Gale, Wyll or Halsin who I all like more RP wise, but now I’m monk punch nuking everything and loving it.
Dammit. Am I gonna have to restart this 40+ hr run now?! That sounds like so much fun! Except for the fact that she completely destroys all rapport with any/every other member of the away team. 😭 Hard decisions are hard.
I’m running Karlach, Shadowheart and Lae’zel. Shadowheart is sort of a midpoint between the others, but as a goody two shoes MC, everyone is getting dragged into the light. Lae’zel fights you a bit but comes around on a lot. I would certainly plan to bring her to all the creche stuff and when you go to start act 3.
I’m curious what led to your decision to build your party in that way? Stats only or conversation options? Plot remixing?
Basically, I like those characters and their interactions haha I will surely keep changing the party for story needs, like I’ll do the creche story with Lae’zel and the Karlach encounter with Wyll.
Still, I’m pretty happy with that suboptimal comp: yesterday I managed to beat the spider queen under Blighted Village with a lvl3 party, Shart with 1 lvl1 spell slot, Gale with 2 lvl 2 slots and everyone at less than half hp. Some smart use of bombs and invisible Imp to destroy the eggs, Firebolts to make the spiders fall down and I ended the fight in 3 turns or so, without anyone dying.
I can dig it, and I was pleasantly surprised at the dialogue/interaction with Karlach & Shadowheart after the latter’s romance sequence begins. 🤪🤌🏼
I agree with the other poster about respecting subclasses and considering multiclasses. You’ll want someone who can take hits on the Frontline, and put of those four it’s yourself and Shadowheart that are getting volunteered for duty.
Shadow can get heavy armor from another subclass. If you want her to blast a bit as well as support, you could always consider Tempest Cleric 2/Storm Sorcerer 10. You get heavy armor from the dip but and can use the Channel Divinity to max Lightning Bolt. She can also twincast Haste and then Quicken another spell at later levels. She’s a nuke but needs long rests. If you wanted her to be more martial, you could instead go war cleric which gets extra attack at 5.
My MC is a Warlock 5 / Paladin 5 / Storm Sorcerer 2 (I know it’s suboptimal, but I want the free flight from storm sorc). The extra attack from Pact of the Blade stacks with any martial extra attack, so at level 10 you’re dishing out 3 attacks per round using your charisma mod instead of strength or dex. I started with a level in Paladin to get Heavy Armor and weapon proficiencies, as of you multiclass in later you only get medium armor. It’s kind of immaterial as you can respect, so if you just want to start as a blaster lock and respec once you have the levels to do so that also works. I was definitely gimped early game by building almost entirely around CHA, dumping STR and DEX a bit, and still hanging out in melee. I built my lock to use Polearm Master and Sentinel to help control the battlefield, but you could run a shield and one hander for more survivability. Or go Great Weapon Master with whichever 2-hander you run across and dump massive crit smites, 2 per short rest minimum, burning your character level scaling warlock spell slots.
The most important thing is to remember that nothkng is locked in. Keep respecing and experimenting until you find something that works.
