Well she’s canonically a callous soldier who believes that murder to purify the bloodline is not just acceptable but good and a bigot towards anyone not of that bloodline, including the PC, so maybe some of us prefer other companions for legitimate reasons? Not that there’s anything WRONG with wanting to keep her around for RP or entertainment purposes, of course 🤷
In contrast, the blazing inferno with a heart of gold (or of hell-machine if you want to get all literal about it) that is Karlach is both my favourite video game character in years and ideologically consistent with the character I’m playing, at least in my first playthrough.
Me: “I could take Karlach along because she’s positive and approves of my choices… but I’d RATHER take Lae’zel because she has great banter with Shadowheart and Astarion.”
The fun early party banter for me is listening to Wyll try to hit on Laezel, get shut down, then hit on Shadowheart and get refused because she’s not playing second fiddle to Lae’zel.
I decided to just respec my favorite companions as needed to keep them in the party. So Karlach is a ranger now. She’s not as combat-effective as a rogue or bard, but it’s a lot less of a stretch for her background.
Have you found rogues to be super combat-effective? I’ve been running Astarion consistently for traps and locks, and I’ve found that he really takes a backseat to my warlock and Minthara in combat. Provided he can get in position to hide and pull off a sneak attack, he’s more effective than Shadowheart, but only if I’m playing conservatively, i.e. trying not to use any of her spell slots.
Astarion with his default trickster subclass trades melee effectiveness for a selection of spells. If you respec him to a thief, he can hit pretty hard, and there are some build guides out there that can make him (or any thief rogue) downright fearsome. This one looks pretty good: https://mobalytics.gg/blog/baldurs-gate-3/rogue-thief-build-guide/
I’m having fun with her in my evil party. Next run she won’t fit in but I’m enjoying her character. I wouldn’t know there were haters if it weren’t for the articles lol.
Same here on the last point lol, found out via this post existing! Hating an OPTIONAL character is such a weird thing to insist on telling the world over and over 🤦😂
Well she’s canonically a callous soldier who believes that murder to purify the bloodline is not just acceptable but good and a bigot towards anyone not of that bloodline, including the PC, so maybe some of us prefer other companions for legitimate reasons? Not that there’s anything WRONG with wanting to keep her around for RP or entertainment purposes, of course 🤷
In contrast, the blazing inferno with a heart of gold (or of hell-machine if you want to get all literal about it) that is Karlach is both my favourite video game character in years and ideologically consistent with the character I’m playing, at least in my first playthrough.
Me: “I could take Karlach along because she’s positive and approves of my choices… but I’d RATHER take Lae’zel because she has great banter with Shadowheart and Astarion.”
The fun early party banter for me is listening to Wyll try to hit on Laezel, get shut down, then hit on Shadowheart and get refused because she’s not playing second fiddle to Lae’zel.
I decided to just respec my favorite companions as needed to keep them in the party. So Karlach is a ranger now. She’s not as combat-effective as a rogue or bard, but it’s a lot less of a stretch for her background.
Have you found rogues to be super combat-effective? I’ve been running Astarion consistently for traps and locks, and I’ve found that he really takes a backseat to my warlock and Minthara in combat. Provided he can get in position to hide and pull off a sneak attack, he’s more effective than Shadowheart, but only if I’m playing conservatively, i.e. trying not to use any of her spell slots.
Astarion with his default trickster subclass trades melee effectiveness for a selection of spells. If you respec him to a thief, he can hit pretty hard, and there are some build guides out there that can make him (or any thief rogue) downright fearsome. This one looks pretty good: https://mobalytics.gg/blog/baldurs-gate-3/rogue-thief-build-guide/
I think I specced him wrong because he was hitting like a truck but is almost a weak link for me in act 3.
Uh… ranger 5 rogue 3 into fighter 6 ranger 3 rogue 3 is one of the best dps comboes, with two hand crossbows and the sharpshooter feat, scaling dex.
Which of course is a valid choice too. Personally I prefer the banter of other companions but that’s just subjective 🤷
I’m having fun with her in my evil party. Next run she won’t fit in but I’m enjoying her character. I wouldn’t know there were haters if it weren’t for the articles lol.
Same here on the last point lol, found out via this post existing! Hating an OPTIONAL character is such a weird thing to insist on telling the world over and over 🤦😂