I am traveling and away from my PS5, also recently laid off so this is my obsession atm. I have been planning my next campaign run on tactician and my goal is to have lore friendly respecs of every companion. My goal is not to have it necessarily balanced but to make it engaging. I.e. while there may be a few healing people, I'm not going to have a healer focus because that might make it even harder, which is more fun IMHO.

Here are my ideas so far. I would love some convo on this because I actually think the game will still work regardless of your build and thats the beauty of it.

This is my dnd equivalent to multiverse differences in DC or marvel.

My tav is going to be a Bard / Warlock mix. I want to make him a Great old one drow who communes with his patron through a lyre / flute. I'd be going pact of the blade with college of swords potentially. With the right items he could be a wild good time wielding the Phalar Aluve.

Astarion - Battlemaster/EK I want him to be my main DPS fighter / tank. As a vampire he can use bite. So I am thinking he could be my tank character. I am thinking either an Alucard style Eldritch knight or Battlemaster. Here is a lil lore tidbit I have written where it is not explicitly clear: He is a vampire rather than an explicit class, and as such he's been able to train his martial skills over the centuries. He enjoys close combat fighting because it gives him the opportunity to be covered in blood or feed as part of the fight as opposed to using an arrow from afar.

Gale - Wiz/Sorc he is pretty explicit about being a wizard, so I wont try to take that from him. But I also think he could be an interesting Wizard / sorcerer mix if given the headband of intellect. He is a studied wizard, but he has a giant explosive orb in his chest that also gives him the ability to be a tempest sorcerer. The orb of karsus gives a bit but takes a bunch away, he's gone from prodigal academic to something like a dnd magical version of Blight from batman beyond or captain atom from DC.

Laezel - Open Hand Monk - has taken a vow not to use any weapon until she gets her silver sword. She is a way of open hand monk, and tavern brawler build.

Karlach - Paladin. She has taken an oath of vengeance against those that sold her to zariel.

Halsin - Druid/Barb or Cleric is a melee caster. I am thinking wildheart barbarian / circle of the land druid. In his war against Ketheric throm, Halsin fought as both a man and a beast, and he's fucking jacked so give that guy a hammer or an axe. Alternatively, I could make Halsin a cleric of nature / druid.

Shadowheart - Thief is 100% a worshipper of Shar but many worship a god without being a member of their clergy. I intend to RP shadowheart as a thief, since she was described in the house of grief as being the stealth / espionage specialist of her team. I may give her a few cleric levels just to get pass without a trace.

Jahiera - I would RP jaheira as a hunter / druid. Give her an amazing bow and actually make an effort to use her this time. The reason for the mix is the WIS synergy and I am considering making her a stealth oriented character. I like the idea that she is able to take great sniping positions as a raven or panther and then transform and ambush her enemies. Alternatively, as the high harper she has a powerful collection of spies at her disposal. RPing her as a moon / beastmaster and focusing on her raven companion could be cool. She uses the ravens to investigate and track threats throughout the city and abroad.

Wyll - so Wyll has made a warlock pact, but beforehand he was trained by his father. After his banishment, he was the blade of frontiers - not the fireball hurling caster of frontiers. I plan to make wyll either a Warlock 1/Gloomstalker 11, or maybe hunter hordebreaker hunter. The reason for this is that as the blade of frontiers, I imagine he ambushed bandits and monsters more so than otherwise. Additionally, I would try not to over rely on Eldritch blast. If he gets a pact, I think pact of the chain or tome to make him a better control assist.

I have never bothered with minsc or minthara but lmk what you think!