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Having just finished my first play-through of BG3, I'm contemplating a replay. One of the things that would make a replay more interesting would be if I could recruit all the companions I failed to recruit last time. I managed to kill Karlach, Minthara, Jaheira and Minsc... so those 4 will be my top priority trying to recruit & keep in the party.

Reading up a bit regarding how to recruit the various characters, then:

Recruiting Minthara seems to collide with Halsin's quest line and it definitely collides with Wyll and Karlach. Similarly, Wyll and Karlach quest lines might collide early on, Lae'zel and Shadowheart really don't like each other etc etc. Given that my first play-through was some 100+ hours I'd like to plan this ahead, spoilers be damned.

So I wonder which companions that are possible to keep in the same party while playing the game as intended: not skipping any quests but picking one route or the other ("good or evil choice" etc) and not exploiting any glitches. And also which companions that might ultimately end up trying to kill each other if not kept in check.

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The companions you can get are:

Side with the Grove: Everyone except Minthara, though that can be changed with mods

Side with the Goblins: You can recruit Minthara, but lose Wyll, Karlach, and Halsin. Gale also leaves if you fail a skill check.

Side with no one (enter the Shadow-Cursed Lands without picking a side): Everyone except Halsin

There used to be an exploit to get everyone but it has since been patched.

There's a few other places where companions can permanently die/leave

Act 1:

Lae'zel is killed by Shadowheart at night if you fail a skill-check

Karlach can be optionally killed as part of Wyll's storyline

Asterion can be optionally killed after he attempts to bite you

Gale leaves if you don't feed him magic items

Any companion can be sacrificed to Booooal

Act 2:

Gale can blow himself up

Shadowheart leaves if you free Nightsong without having her in the party

Jaheira dies if you kill Nightsong

Jaheira frequently dies on her own in the Moonrise Towers fight

Act 3:

Gale can still blow himself up

Astarion is sacrificed to Cazador if you don't free him or kill Cazador fast enough

Jaheira leaves if you don't save Minsc

Minsc dies if you don't have Jaheira in the party when you fight him

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    The "Minthara and Halsin" trick was actually patched out in the last patch. (They literally occupy the same space within the campsite, clipping on top of one another, otherwise). Going this route still allows you "Everyone but Halsin".
    – Raven Dreamer
    Commented Aug 29, 2023 at 0:06
  • @RavenDreamer Thanks for the info - updated!
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Commented Aug 29, 2023 at 0:07
  • Ok so it would seem that siding with nobody is the way to go then - I had Halsin in the party last playthrough. I read something about "you have to tell Minthara where the druids" are in order to recruit her later but I don't know if that is confirmed. Also potentially the goblin you can free from the druids could tell her, in case that affects anything.
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 29, 2023 at 15:10
  • @Amarth: I can accept the edit, but AFAIK it's not possible to free Astarion without killing Cazador?
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 20:31
  • @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Yeah but it is an option (you assist him, like you would a knocked-down companion). From what I know you have two options, kill Cazador or let Astarion go through the ritual instead. In my playthrough I killed Cazador and freed Astarion early on. It's a pretty tough boss fight and doing it with just 3 characters might be a bit challenging, so I freed him asap. Then if he dies fighting it would be possible to revive him like usual.
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 31, 2023 at 15:40

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