I failed the strength check despite being a paladin and using inspiration. I never saw him again even after getting through nearly all of act 2. I’ve asked this before, maybe even in this community, but no one gave a concrete answer, likely because the game was still new.
Only tangentially related, but if you choose to ignore the portal you can come back later to get Gale. I was in a role-playing mood on my first playthrough. When I encountered a strange portal, and was given only the choices of ignoring it or sticking my hand in I thought, “How about no.”
Looks like someone’s got a 2nd play through in their future…
Maybe. I rage quit the first one. Once I get a new PC I might finish and/or play again. Little shit like this is probably one of the biggest reasons I quit. It’s absolutely insane to me to lock a follower behind a random chance. I was over 50 hours in before I began to realize I might not see him again. I would’ve save scummed if I knew.
oh i highly encourage save scumming the crap out of that game
I have no problems save scumming, but I never suspected they’d literally design one of the main 6 characters to be missable over a single fucking failed skill check. I thought for sure I’d see him later.
Consequences of your decisions is what makes this game special. You’re going to have a bad time going forward with this game if you cannot deal with the fomo.
What the hell do you mean consequences of my actions? I didn’t do something dumb, I tried to save him. And it’s not like a cool piece of armor or weapon was locked behind a skill check, it’s a whole damn character. Arguably the best thing about this game is the characters and their dialogue. Now one of them is gone through no fault of my own. I can understand locking Minthara behind killing the druids and then not allowing you to have Karlach or Wyll in the party. That makes sense. I’d definitely view that as a consequence of my actions. But that’s not what I’m upset about. I’m upset that one of the six main characters was locked behind a random skill check! It’s dumb. They could’ve just as easily made it so he pops up again later at a different portal if you fail the first time, but no. So don’t say this was a “consequence of my actions.” If I was playing Dark Urge and chopped his hand off the argument would be better, but I’m not. I was playing a high strength character and used my inspirations and still failed due to no fault of my own and now one of the characters is just completely inaccessible. That’s a massive chunk of content. Hundreds if not thousands of lines of dialogue I can’t get to partake in because of a fucking random chance. So don’t fucking say it’s a consequence of my actions.