I missed Gale until the end of Act 2
I totally missed Gale in act 1 and didn’t get him until near the end of act 2. he was very hungry for magic items so I fed him. I finished off act 2 and then he left, saying his condition is worse. I never ran into Elminster because I guess I didn’t have Gale in the party, he he leaves immediately when I leave camp. oh well… I’m a bit sad about it, I literally had time to level him up, get him equiped, and then he left.
Oh darn, I guess you’re going to have to start over :) . Changing class (even subclass) makes the game very replayable and as you’ve noticed, it’s easy to miss things on your first play-through.
yeah this run I’m doing druid, which I never played. Id like to try an old ranger/fighter build I did once