Without spoiling too much, there is quite a bit of payoff for sticking with Lae'Zel until the end, imho. I do agree that she is a bit off-putting at the start, though. Unfortunately, I didn't get much time with Wyll or Karlach, which is a shame since they seemed like some of the more enjoyable companions.

I'm also bisexual, and frankly, I'm not a picky eater, so some character quirks don't really stop me from having a good time. (I do understand that some people have more specific tastes or higher standards, and there's nothing wrong with that.)

Larian's character writing has never been very interesting to me - I'm not sure what it is, perhaps there's a showiness to them that feels shallow. It doesn't help that their back stories are almost always "supercool world-shaker who had a More Interesting Adventure than this... Level 1", as that always starts them off on the back foot with me for entirely petty reasons.

By contrast with various other games, perhaps their character backstories and the talk they inspire are less about "the cool things I did and their Dark Consequences that now directly affect you" and more about life events that exist outside the Plot?

Eh, I'm probably remembering things a bit rosily...and, uh, I forgot that I was originally trying to say something about their appeal rather than just rambling.

she's a racist murder-frog actually, and she does get better.

You might just be ace