Baldur's Gate 3 player devises way to recruit evil companion on a good playthrough by turning her into a sheep
Mutton to see here.
If you've been playing Baldur's Gate 3, you're likely to have missed out on a companion or two - as making certain decisions can affect who's available. Heavy spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 are included in this article.
One of the most missable companions is Minthara, who appears in Act 1 of the game. In normal circumstances, recruiting her means siding with the goblins and attacking Emerald Grove along with the refugee Tieflings that are staying there.
However, this comes with some significant consequences - Halsin will refuse to help you later on in the game, and Karlach will be unavailable as a companion. Unless you're Taiwanese player pao870111, who came up with a way to recruit Minthara in a morally good playthrough without the use of mods.
The strategy was translated by ZookeepergameDeep360 and shared to the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit over the weekend, and it's gained traction for the sheer determination of players who want the evil companion without having to actually be evil.
First off, if you plan on attempting to recruit Minthara like this, you'll need the Level 4 Transmutation spell Polymorph and the Level 4 Enchantment spell Dominate Beast in your party down the line (learnt at level 7).
In Act 1, side with the Grove and agree to kill the goblin leaders. Instead of killing Minthara, she must be turned temporarily hostile and then non-lethally knocked out. Continue the rest of the quest as normal and kill the other goblin leaders.
Then, once you've reached Moonrise Towers and activated the fast travel waypoint, return to the goblin camp. Cast Polymorph on Minthara to turn her into a sheep, then use Dominate Beast so she'll fight alongside you. Then, control sheep-Minthara and teleport to Moonrise Towers via the map.
Once there, have a strong character use Improvised Weapon to carry sheep-Minthara into Ketheric Thorm's room and then gently set her down. Her judgement cutscene will then begin and she's sent to the jail room. From there, you can ask her to join your party as if you sided with the goblins in Act 1.
This method is prone to bugs and things going wrong, such as sheep-Minthara running away into the shadows and getting lost forever. There's lots of steps too meaning something is likely to go wrong. If you really want to try this, I'd suggest making sure you save plenty to ensure things go smoothly.
It's safe to say this is not what Larian intended players to be doing, nor is it a feat it expected players to attempt. If recruited like this, Minthara will continue to make references to wiping out the Grove in her dialogue, which never actually happened.
It's far easier to have her join your party with a chaotic evil character, though understandably that won't be everyone's choice for their first playthrough.
Maybe Larian will keep this in the game, seeing as someone's jumped through a ridiculous number of hoops to find a way to achieve this. The studio might think it's baa-rking mad though and target it in the next hotfix or major patch.