These two Witcher 3 mods allow you to play as other characters and even travel with companions

While you do briefly get to play as Ciri every now and then, many have been asking if CD Projekt could maybe make a new game plus mode with her completely replacing Geralt.

And while the mods showcased today don't exactly fit that bill (the voice-work will still be Geralt's) they will allow you to both play as different characters from The Witcher 3 as well as have some of them as companions so you don't go insane just talking to Roach all day.

Br34k over on youtube did a short video showcasing both mods at work, so have a look:

 

Before you ask, no, you can't go around and bone the various female members of The Witcher 3's cast with the swapped models. Rather than two foxy ladies going at it all you'll get is a deformed abomination wriggling around as the swapped models still use a lot of Geralt's animations.

That pleasant image aside here are the instructions for all of the mods, again courtesy of Br3ak:

Required mods (all installable with NMM):

Spawn Companion console command by SkacikPL

Debug console extensions by SkacikPL

Playable Triss Yennefer Ciri or Shani by ParKan

Type hideplayer into the console and then Triss(1, 1, 1). Or yen/shani etc. To spawn a companion type SpawnCompanion(Eskel 1, 1, 1). The parameters decide if the follower is invincible, if the health bar shows and if the name shows. It's either 1 or 0. 

And while you're modding your game to include a prettier main character may I suggest also trying out the HD textures mod as well as the improved lighting mod