Summary

While it’s hard to pin a number on the exact amount of NPCs populating every nook and cranny ofBaldur’s Gate 3’smaps, there are luckily lots to choose from and love. Every single character comes infused with their own distinct personality, character design, and memorable dialogue moments, and that’s part of why Baldur’s Gate 3 gets the praise it rightfully deserves.

Act 1 has some of the best areas to exploreand there’s a ton of character variety across all races and backgrounds to get to know. Combined with some stellar voice-acting from the talented cast, these are the characters you don’t want to miss in Baldur’s Gate 3 before reaching the Moonrise Towers.

Ragzlin staring at the player character and his companions, asking whether they want a crack at the Mindflayer interrogation.

There are lots of lovely NPCs around every Act of Baldur’s Gate 3. To narrow down the list of the most memorable ones from Act 1, we’ll only consider those who can’t be recruited to remain at your camp or party members.

10Dror Ragzlin

The Coolest Moment In The Goblin Camp

When you make it to the Goblin Camp during Act 1, you’ll have to take down its three leaders if you choose to side with the Tieflings and rescue Halsin in the process. One of those is the fearsome Hobgoblin Dror Ragzlin, found in a throne-like chamber in the Shattered Sanctum and who’s about to interrogate a deceased Mindflayer he can bring back to life.

Given his Hobgoblin race, Ragzlin has the most distinct character design out of all the other goblins in the camp, with his tall stature, reddish and tattoo-striped skin, and long black hair. His personality and voice are excellently brutish and intimidating, especially when you enter his mind to control the questions he has for the resurrected Mindflayer through successful skill checks.

Lady Esther’s first line of dialogue about meeting a friendly face when interacting with her by the Rosymorn Monastery.

9Lady Esther

She And The Githyanki Have Beef

You meet Lady Esther right before you continue on withLae’zel’s quest of finding the Githyanki Crèchealong the road by the Rosymorn Monastery, and she’s not the biggest fan of the green-armored warriors. In fact, the way she talks about them as “brutish, stupid, rude githyanki” and complains about being attacked for trying to buy one of their children, hilariously makes her seem like a privileged Karen.

She’s working for the Society of Brilliance, which has a scientific hypothesis that pulling a gith child from their natural environment will help raise them to be a non-violent model character. Well, that’s a pretty problematic theory as well, and if cancel culture existed in the fantasy era in which Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place, you wouldn’t hear much of Esther or her organization anytime soon.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Auntie Ethel Human And Auntie Ethel Hag (1)

8Auntie Ethel

Hansel And Gretel’s Worst Nightmare

There are two wild parts about Auntie Ethel. One is that you’re able to miss her entire storyline with Mayrina and her brothers in Act 1 if you ignore the Southwest area of the Blighted Village and push on straight ahead to the Goblin Camp. Two is that she’s not the innocent old lady who owns a tea house as she claims to be, for she’s really a villainous Hag in disguise.

Ethel has indeed kidnapped the innocent Mayrina and is holding her captive in her secret lair, and also disguising the scenic Sunlit Wetlands from the sinister Putrid Bog that they actually resemble. She’s a character with a brilliant twist for an NPC, and the passageways within her enchanted house are also probably one the best locations to visit in Act 1.

Lorin surrounded by Ethel’s green magic warping his mind into being afraid of the player character, scared and refusing to look at them.

Auntie Ethel will also appear in the Emerald Grove among the Druids, which is easily missable. You’ll see she’s only there to trade and is in a much better mood, not causing much trouble.

7Lorin

This Elf Is Precioussss!

One of the other victims of Hag Auntie Ethel’s dark magic you encounter aside from Mayrina is the elf Lorin, who’s confined to the Overgrown Tunnel. What will instantly stand out about him is his dialogue when he’s enchanted, which heavily evokes an influence of Gollum fromThe Lord of the Rings.

The way he cowers in the corner, head filled with false visions of the future and being terrified of you, his Smeagel-like voice and way of speaking, and saying phrases like “Musn’t look. Musn’t see,” and “Lies! Lies. Iseeit. Seetruth. Seedeath” pronounce the heaviest vibes. While not an important NPC attached to any quest,Lorin sure sounds like an intended Easter eggfrom Tolkien’s fantasy mythology.

Your first interaction with the fish-headed Pooldripp who compels you to be the sacrifice for the God BOOOAL.

6Pooldripp The Zealous

BOOOAL! Lots Of BOOOAL!

Pooldripp the Zealous, whose name could easily pass for an orc commander in LOTR-inspired Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor games, is a Kuo-Toa leading a cult that summons the murderous god BOOOAL in the Underdark. His character motivations, memorably pious and raspy voice, and how his character is designed to resemble a humanoid fish species have Lovecraft’s footprint all over them.

There are lots of side characters and areas to check out while you’re exploring in the Underdark, and getting to meet Pooldripp is certainlysomething you don’t want to miss out on. He can also be a friend or a foe who turns against you, depending on how your choices during his interactions play out.

Zevlor talking to the player in Baldur’s Gate 3.

5Zevlor

He’s Got A Lot Of Enemies

Zevlor is among the most honorable and sympathetic military leaders you meet in Balder’s Gate 3, a Tiefling commander who implores you to clear the Goblin Camp so that the passage may be safe for him and his Tiefling refugees. Talking to him in the Druid Grove is a breath of fresh air compared to the cold indifference you receive from Kagha.

You first meet Zevlor after saving some of his party from the goblin attack outside the gates to the Emerald Grove, where he first shows a bit of his angry side, given the capture of Halsin and the goblins getting so close to the Grove. When the goblin problem is solved, however, it’s all water under the bridge, and he’s having a much more joyous time at camp.

A close-up of the Druid Nettie talking to the player character about Halsin and the tadpole in her chambers.

4Nettie

A Wholesome Healer With A Notable Voice Actor

One of the main aspects of Baldur’s Gate 3 is finding help from anyone anywhere about removing the Mindflayer’s tadpole from your head. One such character you’re able to meet for some help with this problem is Nettie in the Druid’s Quarters of the Grove. Her soft-spoken and warm Irish accent compliments her healer background and will be instantly recognizable if you’ve seen Neftlix’s Peaky Blinders.

Nettie is voiced by actress Charlene McKenna, who was the IRA’s Laura McKee in the fifth and sixth seasons of Peaky Blinders and played characters Rose Erskine in BBC’s Ripper Street and Jojo Harte in Raw. She’s very understanding, yet cautious, about your dilemma with the tadpole and is intrigued by the science of it and is also friends with Halsin, sending you on the quest to find him in the Goblin Camp.

Gandrel, a human hunter with a white shirt and leather vest, in Baldur’s Gate 3

3Gandrel

His Adventure To Be Continued In Castlevania

When you trek closer to Auntie Ethel’s Tea House in hopes of some answers as to Mayrina’s disappearance, you don’t expect to find anyone else there other than Ethel. Yet here’s this Guy Fawkes-modeled NPC standing right outside the premises, warning you about her true nature as a hag andhis surprising connection to Astarion.

Gandrel is Baldur’s Gate 3’s Van Helsing, a Gur hoping to hunt the vampire Astarion and trying to get more information out of you about him. The cool part about Gandrel is that even if you reveal that you’re protecting Astarion in your camp, he’s perfectly chill and respects your decision. In fact, he’ll still be open to trading some goods. What an understanding guy!

Timber the squirrel clasping her little paws together and standing when talking to the player character at her spot in the Emerald Grove.

2Timber

One Intense Squirrel

The creativity of crafting characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 also shines through in the various animal NPCs you meet, and Timber the Squirrel absolutely steals the show in the game’s first act. If you have the spell that gives you the ability to speak to animals, now’s the time to activate it before interacting with her.

You’ve never seen such an adorable squirrel with so much feisty personality as Timber, who doesn’t want anyone on her territory and goes straight to attacking your foot. You can have a tense negotiation with her about letting you on it, with successful checks, or you can see what happens when you kick her off (which doesn’t result in much approval from your companions, we’ll leave it at that).

The Tiefling Guex training to fight with a dagger on a training dummy as the player character watches.

1Guex

Class Is In Session

You never know what to expect when meeting an NPC in Baldur’s Gate 3 and that’s truly the fun aesthetic of the game, in addition to its worldbuilding. One of the most endearing moments with an NPC comes in the training grounds of the Druid Grove, with a Tiefling named Guex in need of your combat expertise for some sword-fighting tips.

Out of all the Tiefling refugees you meet, Guex is the most charming, admirable, and distinct with that British vocal delivery that sounds like a cross between Ramsay Snow from Game of Thrones and King Charles III. Hopefully, those critical successes come through because you can’t help but want to see him succeed in training.