Baldur's Gate 3: How To Recruit Astarion

Rogues are the backbone of Dungeons & Dragons, able to deal a whole host of damage and then sneak back into the shadows without ever being seen. Baldur's Gate 3, being a fairly faithful adaptation of specifically Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, also follows this rule, with one of the earliest companions that you find being a Rogue that can deal a whole host of damage to your enemies. 

Once the tutorial ends by (spoilers!) crashing an entire ship, you wake up on a beach. You're able to go in a few different directions while you're on the beach, but if you follow the path offered to you that leads you towards a Goblin invasion happening at a Druid encampment you'll find a seemingly scared man with white hair. You can choose to help him or not, but regardless of your choice he'll jump you and attempt to rob you.

After a connection is made between you and him, he'll back down and introduce himself as Astarion, somebody else who was on the ship with you when it crashed. As an early party member, Astraion is invaluable since he can perform sneak attacks on unsuspecting enemies, and then at level three he can specialize in a certain rogue archetype, maximizing the damage even more.