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.
Failing a roll is on you whether you like it or not. The ever looming threat of failure is important in story telling and suspension of disbelief. It’s the opposite of dumb game design. So yeah you either reload until everything gets handed to you or you move on. You’re talking like he’s locked behind a dlc when you’re just pissed a dice roll didn’t go your way at level one.
It is like that, it’s common DLC to add a new character. It’s like locking DLC behind a roll.
Losing Gale due to a failed dice roll is nothing like a dlc that’s an absurd claim. You can’t just reload a save to unlock a dlc. It was that simple for Gale.