If you see this guide (in part or in full) posted elsewhere I did not approve it. Steam is the only place I will be keeping this guide updated.

Also I use the phrase "NPC" (non-player character) in this guide because traditionally in the BG community it's been the phrase used to describe them.

You can find countless examples of this in guides for the older games. The BG1 NPC project being even a modding example of this.

Race: High Elf
Class: Rogue

STR: 8
DEX: 17
CON: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 13
CHA: 10

Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Deception, Performance, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Dexterity and Intelligence.

Meeting Location: Southwest of crashed ship near the water.



Being flirtatious, backing him and his ideas up, and having his back, are the best ways to get his approval. He's not very big on helping others. But he's also not as dead set against helping others as someone like Lae'zel or Shadowheart.


Switch out his armour as fast as you can. He starts with padded armour and studded leather armor is a better option here. Since he's a high elf, he also can use a longbow instead of a shortbow. So switch to that when you can. A light crossbow works too (though it weighs more).

You'll want to equip him with two short swords/scimitars as soon as possible. This will allow him to make multiple attacks.

With only 8 strength Astarion is going to have problems when it comes to carrying capacity as well.


Astarion is really good for any kind of dexterity skill checks that need to be done. Especially if you give him a boost to 18 dexterity at level 4. He's also excellent with perception. So he's a good choice for scouting things out and for detecting traps in particular.

As an elf he gets proficiency in perception, and coupled with the four skills he gets as a rogue, as well as the two provided by his background, he ends up having by far the most proficiencies of any of the current companions. It's just a shame that his charisma is low enough that you probably have a better option for skills like Deception, Performance, and Persuasion.


Rogues in 5th edition are pretty much best used as damage dealers. They hit creatures hard with a sneak attack and then often can move back out of harm's way.

Especially for tough fights, being hidden with him and surprising an enemy is not a bad idea. He's going to have a pretty good chance of being high up on the initiative roll and by being hidden you can often get a sneak attack on an enemy that starts any combat.

In pen and paper I would say Rogues want to avoid staying in the melee range of an enemy at the end of their turn. But so far the game seems to be pretty well balanced towards expecting these party members (and their limitations) to get used. Even with just 14 AC at the start, I found that Astarion works pretty well up close and can manage to survive up close (Uncanny Dodge at level 5 helps with this to degree). His ability to disengage (or dash) as a bonus action can get him out of trouble as well.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to be up close. He also gets a pretty solid range option in the form of his ranged sneak attack. But, especially if you go with the Thief subclass, you may be better off attacking in melee when you can. Especially if another party member is next to the target. With the Thief subclass he can have a main attack as well as two bonus action attacks.

Next to a fighter, rogues are probably the easiest class to play. Just use him to move around the battlefield by dashing and disengaging (or jumping) as needed. Then work with the rest of your group to hit the biggest threat on the battlefield hard. This especially works well if someone else in your party can get the enemy he's attacking prone or blind, as that will give Astarion advantage on his attacks against them. But even having a summon or character next to an enemy will allow him to sneak attack.

You can also use his numerous attacks to try to take out weaker enemies quickly so that the group can focus on one big enemy. 5th edition's action economy really favours numbers over pure power a lot of the time. So the less enemies you are facing the better off you'll often be.

(Spoiler) As his story progresses he even gains a vampire bite that he can use as a bonus action attack. The use of this ability is limited to once per short/long rest, though.

(Act 3 Spoiler) If he becomes an ascended vampire he gets an ascended bite that he can use as a bonus action attack once per short/long rest.


Level 2

No choices to be made at this level.

Level 3

Assassin

There are strong builds you can make with the Assassin by focusing on surprising enemies and typically sneak attacking them by range. You can even get a few sneak attacks off before enemies can respond. With this build getting the Alert feat is a must.

Arcane Trickster

His poor intelligence limits how much he can do as an Arcane Trickster. This is especially true for his cantrip options. The improved Mage Hand is is 90% of the reason to take this choice. The only thing it offers that is different from a typical mage hand (despite the description suggesting otherwise) is that it is invisible. The fact that it is invisible allows it to avoid the outbreak of combat until you need it.

For the rest of his cantrip options, he's just better off using a weapon over using an offensive cantrip. I would choose Minor Illusion and Light here (even though has darkvision).

Blade Ward isn't worth it because he can always use disengage as a bonus action. By 5th level he'll have Uncanny Dodge which will eat into how useful this is as well. True Strike might be tempting but you are better off holding down the Shift key, finding where enemies can't see, and using your bonus action to hide (getting advantage that way). This avoids you wasting an action and you'll get more sneak attacks this way.

Disguise Self is an adequate 1st level option, especially if you combine it with an amulet you can find to cast speak with dead (to make them not recognize you), but otherwise Astarion lacks the charisma to really act as a very good speaker for the party. Charm Person and Friends are also not worth the risk to use because of the risk of turning people hostile towards you. Sleep is his next best option though that will lose effectiveness quickly.

Thief

Thief is the last (and in my opinion best) subclass option. It comes with the really sweet benefit of being able to use two bonus actions. This could give you two bonus action attacks, having one be a disengage, apply a poison, or even just using your bonus action for using a healing potion. But hiding is also a good option. The second benefit the Thief gives (which is easy to overlook) is resistance from fall damage.

Level 4

I would give him +1 Dexterity / +1 Wisdom. This will give him a bonus to his attack rolls, damage, skills (Wisdom will help with perception), and initiative.

Level 5 and Up

I gave him the Alert feat in my game (I went Thief) and I never regretted it. Alert allows him to almost always go first. The downside of this is since he goes first someone else can't be placed next to someone to allow him to sneak attack. But with his ability to bonus action hide advantage can be easily obtained. With his disengage/bonus action he can also be used to pull enemies into one area. You can have him dash out of the way and then you can nuke with your (hidden) party. He gets the evasion feature at level 6 so Dexterity based aoe damage spells won't harm him as much as others.

Taking the Mobile feat is an option. This can be good if you want him to be able to move around the battlefield. But honestly, he already has the ability to disengage as a bonus action. So opportunity attacks shouldn't be a big threat.

Also, while you might be tempted to take the Dual Wielder feat, don't. It is a terrible feat whose benefits are less than just increasing your Dexterity (increasing your Dexterity would improve your AC and increase your chance to hit, damage, and skill bonuses). This was an issue in pen and paper as well. Just never take it.

Race: Human
Class: Wizard

STR: 8
DEX: 13
CON: 15
INT: 17
WIS: 10
CHA: 13

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Insight, and Investigation.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Intelligence and Wisdom.

Meeting Location: North of crashed ship near the Roadside Cliffs waypoint.



Gale seems pretty happy with stereotypically good-aligned behaviour. If you are helping people out and not doing anything to help out the goblins, it seems like he'll approve of you. Provided of course you fulfill his rather urgent request. There might be an exception to this that I don't know. But he's probably the easiest companion to keep happy as long as you aren't doing things that are too evil.


There aren't a lot of mundane items that can really help him. There are a magic items in the game that can help a bit. Giving him a bunch of potions of healing isn't a bad idea as it gives him something to do as a bonus action.


He's good at really most of the intelligence checks as well as Insight. Sadly, in my experience, Arcana checks tend to come out of the blue just when you are walking around or talking to only very specific people. So you may not find his ability here that useful. Insight and history checks come up occasionally but most of the time I've found they come up in dialogue. This isn't very helpful given he isn't much of a front speaker. Investigation has come up for me a few times.


The biggest thing you are going to notice with Gale is his lack of any darkvision. You can use spells like the Light cantrip or a torch to get over this but it can still be pretty jarring compared to how other companions are.

Honestly, enemies are pretty smart. If they see him and can attack him, he's probably going to take a bit of a beating. The best advice I can give there is to consider using Mage Armor, give him the Shield spell, have Healing Word at the ready for when he does go down, and most importantly of all not let that happen in the first place. It can be tough, though especially when enemies can jump or teleport next to him.

Spell advice in 5E is very much a tough thing to do. Control spells are often great and Sleep in particular is such a useful spell at low levels. Being able to put one or two enemies to sleep, without needing concentration, can make a huge difference in a fight. Sadly, by the time you are level 3 or 4 enemies will start to have too much HP to be initially affected by Sleep.

Control spells are also often "save or suck" spells. In other words, if the enemy successfully saves against them, they do nothing. Enemies often also get the chance to make another save during their turn against these spells. Spells like Hypnotic Pattern or Fear are still a good option because of how valuable taking an enemy out of the fight for a round or more is. Other aoe spells that control terrain, like Ice Storm, can also be pretty useful (and even Chromatic Orb can cause a small ground area to be covered in a substance).

Witch Bolt is an option that lets you avoid expending extra spell slots (but I wouldn't stick with using it). Thunderwave is good for sneaking up on enemies and blasting them off cliffs.

Magic Missile and Scorching Ray are two solid low-level spells you can look at taking. Magic Missile uses force damage, which is a type that is almost never resisted, and its good for breaking enemy concentration. Scorching Ray on the other hand can deal a lot of damage to a target if all of its attacks hit. The attacks can also be critical hits and there are magic items in the game that can trigger off of critical hits. So its not a bad spell to take. Fireball is a staple spell to take as well.

Finally, one thing to remember is that Gale has an Arcane Recovery ability he can use to gain back expended spell slots.


Level 2

At this level I would take Magic Missile and Find Familiar. Find Familiar is useful in and out of combat.

There are more subclass options here than I am able to write. Unfortunately, some of these (like Necromancy) only really get good at level 6 or higher. That takes a long time to get to and you can always re-spec yourself with Withers at that time. If you are just at level 2 then I'd recommend Abjuration, Illusion, or Divination.

Sticking with Evocation is probably the easiest thing to do but it's not something I recommend. It's 2nd level feature is more applicable once you get to level 5 and can cast Fireball so you may find its not that useful before level 5.

The Divination subclass is also a very generally useful option as well. Abjuration likewise makes him a bit beefier and less likely to die, while Illusion gives him a minor ability to distract while in turn mode/combat (and a more regular use out of his bonus action). The downside with Illusion is I don't think its level 6 feature (which lets you take an action to see Invisible enemies) is all that good. It's helpful in certain fights but generally not helpful most of the time.

The Wizard class was really designed in 5E around their spell access over any subclass features (unlike classes like the Cleric that were heavily designed around their subclasses varying wildly). As a result, the choice you make here is helpful but not nearly as important as in other classes.

Level 3

Shatter is an option for a spell if you are looking for something that can hit a bunch of people. But to be honest, its damage isn't great (though its rarely resisted) and Scorching Ray is generally the better choice. Gale also benefits from having a good defensive spell available for him when it comes to tough fights like Mirror Image (which doesn't require concentration) and Blur (which does). Misty Step is also a solid option because it just uses up a bonus action and won't cause opportunity attacks against you.

Regardless of whether or not you go with a damage spell or defensive spell, I would probably stick with taking at least one control spell here. Web is a good choice. Hold Person is also a good choice at this level as well. Though at higher levels (particularly Act 2 and later) there will be less humanoids to use it on.

Level 4

As far as level 4 is concerned, I strongly recommend you increase your intelligence to 18 and your Constitution to 16. There really isn't any better option for you.

At level 4, you also get to choose another cantrip. I think either Light or Shocking Grasp is probably your best option here. At the moment all you have is offensive cantrips that are ranged attacks. So by taking Shocking Grasp if you need to cast something in melee range of someone then you'll have that option. It's especially nice because it can prevent an enemy from taking a reaction, allowing you to escape from them without taking an opportunity attack. Using Disengage is the safer option though.

You'll also have two more spells to choose from at this level. Maybe take something you don't have in your spellbook yet from the spells I mentioned in the earlier level 3 section.

Level 5 and Up

Fireball is a must here. It was deliberately designed to do more damage than a typical spell at this level and it shows.

Otherwise, choose your selections going forward based on your subclass features. Necromancy also is given Animate Dead at level 6. So keep that in mind when choosing spells.

Multi-classing

One option for Gale is to take 2 levels in Fighter. This will give him access to Action Surge and will ultimately allow him to cast multiple spells the first turn of a combat. It will improve his survivability (by letting him use better armor, giving more health, giving him a healing option, and letting him use shields). But you'll miss getting level 6 spells.

If you are just looking for more defense then a 1 level dip into a Cleric will also work.

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Druid

STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 8
WIS: 17
CHA: 12

Skill Proficiencies:

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Intelligence and Wisdom

Meeting Locations: Goblin Camp (initial), Shadowlands (but he won't be joinable until late into Act 2).

Halsin is unique in that he can be a pain to get him to join your party. In order to do this you need to be in Act 2 (which means you will have to have rescued him in Act 1).

Before going to the Shadowfell, you need to go to the Inn of Light. In the inn you'll find a man named Art Cullagh in a bed on the first floor. Talking to him sets out a quest line that will eventually result in Halsin agreeing to join you.

Race: Half High-Elf
Class: Druid

STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 8
WIS: 17
CHA: 12

Skill Proficiencies:

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Intelligence and Wisdom

Meeting Locations: Inn of Light (but she won't be joinable until late into Act 2 and only if you side with the Harpers).

Race: Tiefling
Class: Barbarian

STR: 17
DEX: 13
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 12
CHA: 10

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Strength and Constitution

Meeting Location: East Risen Road, northeast of Blighted Village



Give her a big axe, a longbow or heavy crossbow, give her some medium armor (not heavy), throw on a helm, pick up some gauntlets, and she's good to go. She can also go armorless though I don't recommend it.

She can also be empowered by using up soul coins. So it's a good idea to keep the ones you have for her use.


Her strongest skill is her Athletics. If you need something moved or are looking for a mule she'll work really nicely. It also means she has a decent jump distance though nothing like you can get out of Lae'zal.


Barbarians are very versatile with the kinds of weapons they can use. Their combat ability strongly centres around their use of rage.

How you use her in combat will depend a lot on whether or not you just stick with a barbarian or if you decide to multiclass.


Level 2

Unless you are planning to multi-class her there aren't any decisions to be made at this level.

Level 3

At this level you choose your subclass.

Wildheart

This option gives you the ability to cast Speak with Animals. It also lets you choose from one of several bonuses.

Honestly, anything other than Eagle Heart these are good or decent choices. I'd say Bear, Elk, or Wolf are my recommended choices.

• Bear Heart is an obvious option if you want her to be seriously hard to kill.
  
• Eagle Heart is a decent option that gives some additional mobility in battle. But the problem is in order to rage you are using your bonus action. Plus it's featured ability requires you to be above a target, which can be tough to pull off.
  
• Elk Heart is a great option if you want some additional mobility and want a charge ability that is widely useful in a wide variety of circumstances.
  
• Tiger Heart is a good option if you want some additional jumping distance. But jumping conflicts with the use of her bonus action, which she needs to rage, so you won't be able to benefit from it until at least her second turn of combat. They also get a decent cleave like ability which does some damage against nearby enemies.
  
• Wolf Heart is a great option if you want to give allies advantage on attacks against enemies that are close to her. The problem with it, which will be particularly evident later on, is that battles get very spread out at times. So you may find it helping you as much as you'd hope.

At 6th level you get some additional choices. I think Chimpanzee is hilarious because you can throw supply packs and blind people with it. Eagle is a good choice as well for the Perception advantage and improved Darkvision.

Berserker

You get an attack as a bonus action and you get an improved ability to throw. To me this is the best Barbarian option because both abilities are widely applicable and you can benefit from them constantly.

At 6th level you get immunity to charmed or frightened. This helps safeguard you against two of the most annoying and potentially devastating status conditions. The last thing you want is your barbarian turning on you!

Overall this is a solid pick for her and I highly recommend it.

Wild Magic

Thematically this is cool but the problem is that you never gain any degree of greater certainty with what you get from this and the bonuses aren't remarkable.

At level 6 your Bolstering Magic: Boon requires you to use an action for it. This is just not a good use of your action. While it can be used to get back spell slots so can resting and it's not very helpful. The 10th level feature actually makes your wild magic bonus even less predictable since every time you take damage or fail a saving throw your wild magic bonus changes.

The subclass is just a bad, unpredictable choice whose bonuses don't outweigh the potential negatives.

Level 4

Giving Strength +1 and Constitution +1 is a safe bet since it will get her to 18 Strength and the extra Constitution will give more health.

Tavern Brawler can be a helpful choice if you plan to use her to throw things. Especially since it'll still get her to 18 Strength.

Taking Polearm Master instead can also be a good move. If you want her focused on jumping then the Athlete feat is an option as well since it will still let her get 18 Strength.

At this level you could also instead just multi-class her into a Paladin and skip getting the feat.

Level 5 and Up

Barbarians get extra attack at level 5 and get a major +3 bonus to initiative (and inability to be surprised) at level 7. But after that I don't think they gain enough of a benefit to stick around in this class. An argument could be made that you can get this (and a bit more of an initiative bonus) by taking the Alert feat.

Re-specing and Multi-classing

At level 8 I think it's worth it to respec her. Maybe you go Barbarian 3 - > Paladin 5 so that you get extra attack while still getting your initial subclass feature for the Barbarian. But Paladin, Fighter, or Ranger will get you the extra attack. Multiple extra attack features don't stack (although the Warlock's Pact of the Blade may stack with Extra Attack due to a bug).

I clearly think Paladin is the way to go when it comes to multi-classing. If you go level 3 Barbarian - > level 9 Paladin you'll be able to get level 3 spells when you hit level 9 as a Paladin. You won't be able to rage and concentrate on spells, but Divine Smite doesn't require that because it's not a spell (this is not to be confused with Smite spells that do require concentration). Divine Smite can really help you deal out a lot of damage though.

Race: Githyanki
Class: Fighter

STR: 17
DEX: 13
CON: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 12
CHA: 8

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Acrobatics, Intimidation, and Survival.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Strength and Constitution.

Meeting Location (after ship): Trapped in a cage north of the Roadside Cliff waypoint.



She seems to only care about getting the parasite out of your head. Something that delays this is probably going to annoy her - even if it involves possible alternatives. She's very devote in her belief in the Githyanki knowing what to do. To keep her happy, don't help people or even show sympathy and she probably will show more approval of you. Also she hates Shadowheart.


Give her a big sword, a longbow or crossbow, give her some heavy armor, throw on a helm, pick up some gauntlets, and she's good to go.


Her strongest skills are her Athletics followed by her Acrobatics. It's her athletic ability that really shines here. If you need something moved, are looking for a mule, or need someone to jump somewhere far then she's your best option. Her Astral Knowledge ability can also be helpful at times.


Fighters are very versatile with the kinds of weapons they can use. Lae'zel could be used effectively while wielding a great weapon or taking a sword and shield approach. She could even dual-wield short swords and be fine as well. The only thing she really can't do well (particularly without the Archery fighting style) is attack at range.

My best advice with her is to take advantage of the insane distances her high strength allows her to jump. By the time she hits level 3, her race also gives her the Jump spell that she can cast once per long rest. This triples her jumping ability and it will allow her to go basically wherever she is needed on the battlefield. It will also let her escape from dangerous situations.

At level 2 you'll get access to Action Surge. This restores on a short or long rest and it is one of the most important abilities you can have. It alone gives her a great deal of flexibility with how you want to build her. Just because you can multi-class and get multiple castings per turn from it.

Take advantage of these as well as your ability to coat your weapons in various types of surfaces. Shove people, throw objects as needed, and store at camp/carry around different barrels to use as needed.


Level 1

She'll start with Great Weapon Fighting. But once you find Withers you can visit him in your camp and are better off re-specing her to another fighting style.

You might think that Great Weapon Fighting is the best choice but numbers have been crunched, by people far smarter than me, and it's been determined that it actually only adds about 1.33 extra damage on average. So while it will raise the minimum damage you do it isn't all that impressive compared to other options.

Defence is probably your best bet here. But if you want to make her a substantially more accurate ranged character, then you can instead take Archery.

Duelling works while using a shield. The damage bonus won't show up on your character sheet however (this is a very old bug they still haven't fixed).

Two-Weapon Fighting is an option but I think you are better off keeping your bonus action free for jumping, healing, or a bonus action attack from Polearm Master.

Protection isn't really worth it because of how close your ally has to be for it to work. You should be positioning her to keep enemies away from vulnerable characters not having her close. It can work if you want her near Astarion however.

Level 3

Battlemaster

While Githyanki are a "Gish" (Warrior Wizard) race, the truth is the Battlemaster is the best way to go here. Especially as you hit higher levels. It just gives a lot more flexibility with choices.

You get superiority dice back on a short or long rest. Rally is particularly good because, unlike the others, it uses a bonus action and the temporary hitpoints will help characters survive. Evasive Footwork and Goading Attack are great for keeping Lae'zel and your other party members alive as well. Pushing Attack is good for repositioning enemies, including sending them off cliffs.

Eldritch Knight

If you want to go the Eldritch Knight route then don't approach this as someone wanting to play a Wizard that can also fight, but instead look at this as a Fighter that supplements their combat abilities with magic.

Her cantrip options here are pretty slim. Light and Minor Illusion might be your best bet. She doesn't have darkvision so Light is useful. Minor Illusion can be used to lure enemies and separate them and has uses outside of combat. True Strike isn't worth it because it takes up your action and chances are she'll hit regardless. Blade Ward only lasts a few turns and takes up your entire action. Healing is a better option.

The Shield spell is the most important tool she'll get for staying alive. Magic Missile can be good when you might not have a direct line of sight if you are looking to break an enemies concentration (and since, unlike other spells, her intelligence has no effect on how well it works). Enemies will save often from spells like Burning Hands and Thunderwave because of her low intelligence.

Two of your spells have to be from either Abjuration or Evocation schools so that's why there are two different sections where you choose from 1st level spells. Longstrider is a good general spell to take since it increases her movement and lasts until a long rest.

Champion

Champion is your other subclass option. It's a fine option if you want something simple but it's not giving any variety or choices.

Level 4

For a feat you may want to go +1 Strength/+1 Dexterity or +1/Strength/ +1 Constitution at this level.

The Constitution is solely to give her as much health as possible. Dexterity probably won't be needed but it will make her a bit more reliable at range, improve some skills and improve her initiative roll. Getting abilities to be even numbers (18, 16, 14, etc) will improve them.

Taking a feat that gives +1 to strength is an option here. Athlete is a nice option because it gives a jump boost and allows her strength to reach 18. Heavy Armor Master is also good because of its damage reduction (don't confuse this with the Heavily Armored feat though!).

Polearm Master is also an option here. It will give her a regular use of her bonus action for attacks and allow her to more regularly make opportunity attacks. At higher levels Sentinel is also a good option.

Great Weapon Master is best taken if you are a battlemaster who has taken manuevers that help with improving your chance to hit.

Alert can be a really good option because it can allow her to be the first (or close to it) to move in combat. You can use this to your advantage by splitting her off from the party, having just Lae'zal start a fight, hiding the rest of your party, drawing enemies to Lae'zal, and then bombarding enemies with spells.

Charger is an option that people familiar with 5e might overlook. But these options can give her a better ability to manage enemies.

Tough is always a respectable choice. She's already very difficult to kill, but this will just make it that much harder. This is probably not the choice that I would make, because frankly its kind of a mediocre choice, but it will help to keep her alive.

Under no circumstances should you take the Dual Wielder feat. You are better off putting towards your strength score over taking it even if you are playing a character that is using multiple weapons.

Level 5 and Up

Steam has a very strict word limit that I've reached. My advice is to stick with her as a Fighter. She really doesn't have good stats for multi-classing beyond maybe a 1 level Barbarian dip.

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow
Class: Paladin (Vengeance)

STR: 17
DEX: 12
CON: 13
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 15

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, History, Perception, Performance and Persuasion.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma

Meeting Location: Goblin Camp (first encountered), Moonrise Towers Main Floor (being judged by Thorn), Basement of Moonrise Towers (where she is recruitable).

From what I have been able to determine she can't be recruited if you knock her out at the Goblin camp (I've tried). The only way to recruit her is if you slaughter the Tieflings at her request in Act 1 (or possibly if you take no sides). Knocking her out is treated the same as killing her by the game.



She starts off with a scapel. You'll want to give her some kind of weapon (preferably a polearm) and possibly a shield. Her light armor, while useful for maintaining concentration, is very inappropriate for her. Switch her to some heavy armor as soon as you can. You'll also want to give her a crossbow or longbow just so she has a ranged option, though in close range with her strength she may be better off throwing things (hand axes, etc).


She's a melee centric character. She really is not going to be very good at range unfortunately, beyond throwing things. But in melee her ability to smite can be devastating. She's pretty good at jumping as well so that may be an option when it comes to helping to close the distance for her.

As a vengeance paladin, she also gets Misty Step at level 5 and this will help her close the distance between enemies a few times a long rest.

Paladins, just like Rogues, are extremely adept at dealing a ton of damage to an enemy in melee range.

Also keep in mind that at 15 Charisma she may have some trouble getting more powerful enemies affected by any spell that involves a saving throw. You may want to avoid spells like Hold Person for this reason. Especially anything that uses your action.


Level 2

At this level she gets spells as well as a fighting style. Defence or Dueling are the best options for her. As I mentioned under Lae'zel's section, Great Weapon Fighting only adds the 1.33 average damage and Protection requires allies to be too close to be of much use.

Shield of Faith, Bless, and Protection from Evil are good options here but they all run the risk of you losing concentration (since you are likely to be in melee range).

As tempting as it might be to take spells like Command or Compelling Duel, you may find with only 15 Charisma that she has trouble getting these to work (and the same is true for Thunderous Smite and Wrathful Smite). The smite spells may be useful if you save scrum however. Generally, I think your spell slots are better dedicated towards using divine smites regardless but you can certainly take these should you wish. Cure Wounds is not worth it in my opinion because you won't want to spend an action in combat on it.

Level 3

No decisions here. You do get Bane and Hunter's Mark, but you are already heavy on concentration spells so they aren't that useful.

Level 4

You get to choose a feat at this level. Personally, I would go with the ability score increases so that you can get your Strength to 18 and then get either your Constitution or Charisma to an even score.

War Caster is a great feat to help manage all the spells you have that require concentration. You can also take Resilient (and choose Constitution) for this and that will also improve your Constitution and give you some more hit points.

But other feats, like Polearm Master, Heavy Armor Master, Sentinel, and Alert are all great options.

Level 5 and Up

At this level you get the Extra Attack feature. You also get access to 2nd level spells. Unfortunately, these mostly suck. Aid is ok and Misty Step is great (Misty Step is given by the Vengeance subclass) the rest are the kind of spells that another class would be better off casting. You'll do more damage by expending 2nd level slots on divine smites and, unless you have a pressing need to Misty Step, smiting may be your best option.

Multi-class and Respecing

When you get to be high levels it may make sense to multi-class into a Sorcerer. Especially after level 6. It will mean a delay in getting access to the Haste spell, but going Sorcerer should give you access to more spell slots for you to smite with. The 7th level feature for Vengeance Paladins frankly isn't good enough to continue on as a single-class Paladin.

An alternative is taking a three level dip into the Barbarian. This will give you a rage and (should you choose Berserker) you'll get the ability to do an extra attack as a bonus action. See Karlach's section for more information on Barbarian options.

Race: High Half-Elf
Class: Cleric
Subclass: Trickery Domain

STR: 13
DEX: 13
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 17
CHA: 8

Skills: History, Insight, Medicine, and Religion.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma.

Meeting Location: Pod in mindflayer ship, near the crash site, near the Overgrown Ruins waypoint, or in the Tiefling camp. She meets you in a few places and where you first meet her can vary based on what you've done (or haven't done) previously.


Honestly, when you initially have her in your group it may feel like she will never be happy with anything you do. The best way to keep her approval is to focus on the mission at hand, be consistent with your values, not help people in need of help, listen to her opinions and advice, and to limit who you tell about your condition. Even then you may not always please her. She and Lae'zel do not get along and you will probably see situations where siding with one will upset the other.


Get her the best medium armor you can get her, the best shield you can get her, and the best blunt weapon and light crossbow she can use. Her Strength and Dexterity are both 13 so they are both equally underwhelming. Shadowheart's stats went through a lot of changes during the early access (by my count around 4 different variations) and its left her a bit of a mess.


She's good at Wisdom checks (especially Insight) and if you are really desperate she can be used for Strength checks. Her ability to cast Guidance is also a godsend for any ability check you need to do. A 1d4 doesn't seem like much but it can make all the difference. You can cast it on any party member as well which is pretty great. It's also a cantrip so the only limit on its use is that it's a concentration spell.

She also has access to the Disguise Self spell. She sadly doesn't have any Charisma-based skills to actually use it as effectively as she could in conversation. Even with Guidance it's going to be hard for her to get a lot of use out of it especially when checks become harder later into the game.


Unfortunately, Clerics don't get much in the way of good Dexterity weapons for you to use. The only Dexterity (finesse) weapon you can use in melee is daggers and, while you can dual wield them, using your bonus action to cast Spiritual Weapon or healing with a potion is just a better option. Dual wielding also comes with the risk of her having less defense (and you really want her as defensive as possible in order to maintain concentration).

At level 3 she'll get access to Spiritual Weapon. I can't emphasize enough the value this spell gives her. It's basically a summon that doesn't require concentration and gives her a reliable way of dealing. It can also be upcast (increasing in power with every additional 2 levels of spell slot you use) and this will give it better damage and reliability.

Guiding Bolt is a great spell that can also be reasonably upcast in a pinch. It's especially useful if you need to give Astarion or a rogue character a means of advantage. It's also a good idea to maintain at least a slot or two available for Healing Word when you need it.

Sacred Flame is the cantrip she has that she's supposed to be able to work as an alternative to using a weapon, but I've found that it hardly ever works. Unlike regular attacks there also isn't anything easy you can do to improve the chances of it working.

Even when Sacred Flame does do damage it's only doing an average of 4.5 damage before level 5. The truth is damage wise you are almost always going to be better off using a weapon. I've had nothing but frustrations with using Sacred Flame because (despite what the percentages say) it rarely seems to work.

Defensively, her access to Mirror Image in particular can make all the difference in a really brutal fight. But it also involves using your Action and this may not be worth it.

She also works pretty well as a support character. Spells like Bless and Healing Word can help out a lot in combat. Blindness can be a pretty useful spell if you want to really kneecap one enemy in particular (or multiple enemies if upcast).

Spiritual Guardians is great because you can have her move around combat and her enemies. Radiant damage is going to be the better option to take for it because enemies are unlikely to be resistant to it. Fear can also be a useful spell against enemies that aren't immune to being frightened.

I found when using her that her Turn Undead channel divinity was much more useful than Invoke Duplicity (because this requires your Action and concentration).

Her biggest weakness in combat is the lack of things she can do with her bonus action and reaction. This is especially apparent at higher levels. She also lacks strong area of effect damage spells other than Flame Strike.


Since her domain is already decided (unless you re-spec her using Withers) you don't have a huge number of choices to be making when it comes to advancing levels. Basically, just deciding on what spells to take and your level 4 choice for a feat or ability score improvement (ASI).

Level 3

Spiritual Weapon at this level is an absolute must. Otherwise, maybe take Blindness? Sadly clerics at this level have a ton of different concentration spells and it really works to their detriment.

Other spells, like Lesser Restoration, might not be worth having prepared all the time. You can swap out prepared spells without having to take a long rest (unlike in pen and paper) so you can take spells like this only as needed.

Enhance Ability is a solid option particularly if you want to make it easier to make skill checks outside of combat. But don't forget this requires your concentration so using Guidance after you have Enhance Ability active is going to end Enhance Ability.

Level 4

+1 Wisdom and +1 to either Strength or Dexterity is a reasonable way to go here. You could take the Heavily Armored feat and get her to 14 Strength that way. That would make her a lot more survivable (and heavy armor doesn't have a Strength requirement unlike pen and paper).

War Caster is a very good idea for a feat. This will allow her to better maintain concentration on her spells. This is critical for later spells like Spiritual Guardians. Having Shocking Grasp won't hurt her either.

Another option is to take Magic Initiative: Druid. I did this and chose Druid so that she would have access to Speak with Animals as well as Shillelagh and Thorn Whip. Speak with Animals was useful but I never found much use for these cantrips beyond 5th level.

Level 5 and up

Spiritual Guardians is a great option to take here. Mass Healing Word is an option but unless you plan on having multiple downed allies it feels like a waste of a 3rd level slot.

Banishment, Guardian of Faith, and Flame Strike are some other solid options at higher levels. She also automatically has useful spells like Polymorph and Dominate Person prepared.

Multi-classing and Re-specing

Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't feel like multi-classing is really worth it for her. Given her wisdom you could re-spec her into a Druid. But the game already throws Druid companions your way.

You could re-spec her so she has a different Cleric subclass. Light is a really solid choice and it thematically fits if you are looking to maybe push her away from the deity she currently worships.

Race: Human
Class: Warlock
Subclass: The Fiend Patron

STR: 8
DEX: 13
CON: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 10
CHA: 17

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Arcana, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Survival.

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma.

Meeting Location: Tiefling Camp/Druid Grove



Wyll is pretty easy to please. Just be helpful towards other people, don't be cruel, don't help out the goblins, and show support for the druid grove. This should be enough to gain approval with him.


Just give him good leather armor. Honestly, Warlocks don't need great equipment. He's going to be better off casting a spell than using any kind of weapon.


Wyll is good at making charisma checks. His proficiency in both Persuasion and Intimidation make him a good option for talking (especially if your character is not charismatic). Animal Handling and Arcana actually complement this since they tend to come up only in dialog.


Hex + Eldritch Blast is probably your best bet to be honest. He doesn't start with Hex, but it should be your choice at level 2. Hex is great because it lasts until the end of your long rest (unless concentration is broken).

I generally choose Dexterity when casting Hex, but since it applies to ability checks and not saving throws it's value in combat is limited to making it easier to shove someone and won't effect most spells or abilities. Hex is kind of an interesting spell as well because after it is cast a separate icon will appear for it (on your hotbar near your other spells and consumable items) that will allow you to recast it without expending a spell slot. So make sure you use that and not the original icon.

Ignore Wyll's weird proficiencies in Halberds, Glaives, and Pikes. These are strength based so you won't use them (unless you choose Pact of the Blade, but proficiency is redundant then).

Command is a good spell for controlling creatures. It also doesn't take up concentration.

I would probably steer clear of most other level 1 and 2 damage spells with him. Warlocks only get a few castings per short rest. Either way, it's really important that you use spells that don't waste these valuable slots.

In general, keep him at a distance from enemies. Use Hex on your target and then blast at them with Eldritch Blast. Consider taking Repelling Blast to allow you to push enemies off cliffs or move them where you need them. Using Eldritch Blast can be a bit bland but warlocks are basically spellcasting archers in 5E. Just with a blast of magic instead of a bow.

How you handle combat beyond that partly comes down to what Pact you choose at level 3. Pact of the Tome or Pact of the Chain means you'll be more of a caster class. Pact of the Blade means you'll likely be more of a melee character (though not necessarily).

Finally, don't forget that Warlocks get their spell slots back on a short rest. You really want to manage how often you take these for that reason. Until level 11 they'll be stuck with two spell slots/short rest (though their spells are upcast automatically).


Don't forget that you can replace one of your spells with another spell. So if you didn't like a spell you were using earlier (provided its not a cantrip) you can switch it up for something else when you level up.

Level 2

Invocations

The best combat invocations for him to take as far as I'm concerned are Agonizing Blast, Devil's Sight, and Repelling Blast. Especially since you can use Repelling Blast (with the right positioning) to blast people off ledges. Devil's Sight will get around his biggest major weakness (a lack of darkvision).

Invocations can't be changed out on level up (unfortunately). Which is not how it works in pen and paper.

Fiendish Vigor is another option. Unfortunately, Armor of Agathys is a better spell than False Life though and it's a spell he knows by default. The advantage of taking Fiendish Vigor is that you can keep casting False Life as much as you want and replenishing your temporary hitpoints. Even still, it's hard to justify taking when you have so few options and healing through short rests or potions is easy.

Beast Speech could be an interesting choice. There are definitely animal encounters in this game that you can use this on. But by Act 3 this will be of little use.

Mask of the Many Faces lets him change his appearance. It works well with him being naturally inclined towards being the speaking character in a party. Especially for speaking to the dead you killed.

Spellcasting

In terms of his spellcasting, when he hits level 2 you should select Hex to learn. Honestly, he should have had this at first level. This and Eldritch Blast are your go to spells as a warlock.

At this stage you can also replace one of the default spells he has already. Arms of Hadar is an interesting spell that he already knows but it's one requires that he be in pretty close proximity to targets for it to work. With jump being available as a bonus action you may want to switch that out for something else. Maybe Command.

Level 3

All three Pacts at this level have their merits. Pact of the Chain can be an extremely effective pact for scouting and giving you needed assistance in combat. Especially if you take the Imp, turn it invisible, hide it, and use it for scouting.

Pact of the Blade works well if you want him to be a melee character. Pact of the Tome is decent if you don't have someone with Guidance already but its concentration requirement conflicts with your use of the Hex spell. Long term this is worth the trade off.

Scorching Ray is still a solid pick if you are looking for raw damage.

Darkness should be able to work with the Devil's Sight invocation, but I've seen some debate online still about whether or not it works fully with it. You may not be able to make opportunity attacks against enemies when you are in magic darkness. So if you take it be mindful of this. It also needs to be placed strategically in order to ensure it does not mess up what the rest of your party can effectively do.

Blindness is probably your best choice at this level for a control spell because it doesn't require concentration. So you can use it and still have your Hex spell active. Command will let you hit multiple targets at this level so it's also good.

Level 4

The best option is to put one point towards Charisma and another into Dexterity. Then maybe take a spell I mentioned for level 3.

If you want to instead have him fight in melee then you can give him the Moderately Armored feat. This will let him use medium armor and a shield. Then put towards your Dexterity as part of taking that feat. Spell Sniper is another feat option that will help with his use of Eldritch Blast.

Level 5 and Up

Invocations

I don't think invocations that only give you access to a spell for casting using your spell slots are generally worth it. Mire of the Mind is an exception to this because of how powerful Slow is. But I wouldn't take Sign of Ill Omen or Thief of the Five Fates for this reason. Be very careful when choosing invocations to be sure to note which ones require your spell slots to cast the spell.

Spellcasting

Wyll gets access to Fireball at level 5 and its the best damage option he has. You might be tempted to take Counterspell but your limited spell slots mean that this is unlikely to be a good choice. Hypnotic Pattern, Fear, Stinking Cloud, and Hungar of Hadar are also all good at level 5.

Banishment is a good option for level 4 spells. As are Fire Shield (particularly for a Pact of the Blade character) and Wall of Fire.

Multi-classing

Bards and Sorcerers are both natural choices for Wyll to multi-class into. With Bards being better for skills and Sorcerers providing more spellcasting variety.

If you find Withers in Act 1 (see below) he will come to your camp. One of your options with him is to pay 100 gold in exchange for being able to adjust a character's ability scores and change their class, subclass, etc.

Obviously, this guide is written assuming that you are generally keeping a joinable NPC's class and not changing everything. But it is an option.

Be sure to check out this guide here for more information about how companions behave and why they don't like you.

https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2254064861

There is also this great guide that covers more aspects of the game. At an absolute minimum it's worth it to check out their humorous take towards all the different spells. But you'll get a lot out of the rest of the guide as well.

https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2254428922

This guide here has a ton of different advice. Not just general advice but also combat advice as well.

https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2252807533

And finally this guide is great for learning about the different classes.

https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2297791055

Just wanted to give special thanks to the people who make suggestions in the comment section here.

• muku_muku (for their suggestions for Mage Hand)
  
• Baraz (Shadowheart suggestions)