Baldur's Gate 3 is a wonderfully-written game - every character with more than a few lines seems to be thought out meticulously, with complex pasts and varied motivations that make them interesting to be around. Of course, some of the most compelling examples of this are with your potential companions.
There are ten companions in the game, with six of them being potential Origin Characters (read: main character avatars), and while it isn't possible to recruit every single one of them in a single playthrough, you can for sure get most of them. Let's take a look at how to recruit them, and may your campsite never feel boring.
How To Recruit Every Companion
Companion | Class | How To Recruit |
|---|---|---|
Shadowheart | Cleric | You'll find Shadowheart passed out on the beach very close to your starting location after the Nautiloid Crash. |
Astarion | Rogue | Astarion is waiting to the southwest of the crashed nautiloid. |
Gale | Wizard | Approach the Roadside Cliffs waypoints (X:225, Y:323) near the Druid Grove. A cutscene will begin in which you pull him through a portal. |
Lae'zel | Fighter | You'll find Lae'zel trapped by some Tieflings to the west of the Overgrown Ruins. However you deal with the Tieflings, you can shoot the trap to free Lae'zel. |
Wyll | Warlock | Wyll is found training some Tiefling children inside the Emerald Grove. He's down in the cave system. If you miss Wyll at the Emerald Grove, you will also eventually meet him at your camp if you recruit Karlach. |
Karlach | Barbarian | You can find Karlach on the Risen Road. We have a guide dedicated to recruiting her, which you can find here. |
Minthara | Paladin | To recruit Minthara, you'll have to side with the goblins and successfully carry out the attack on the Druid Grove. |
Halsin | Druid | To recruit Halsin to your camp, you'll have to side with the Druids and Tieflings against the goblins and exterminate their leaders. Invite him to your camp in the party afterwards. To recruit Halsin to your party properly, you'll have to progress the quest to lift the Shadow Curse. |
Jaheira | Druid | To recruit Jaheira to your camp, you'll have to either ask her to join you after the Last Light Inn falls (which happens if Isobel dies) or at the beginning of the assault on Moonrise Towers. To recruit Jaheira to your party, you can ask her to join you permanently just before facing Ketheric Thorm himself. |
Minsc | Ranger | To recruit Minsc, follow Jaheira's personal quest in Act 3 until you end up in a fight with Minsc and other enemies. Here, leave Minsc until last and knock him out to end the fight - do not kill him. |
While many of these companions will have levels and powers when you first encounter them, you are free to level them up exactly how you'd like from level one when you manage to recruit them to your party permanently.