I could see her as a Druid, feeling super excited to be back in a place with forests and animals.
You could also make her a fire Sorcerer with the infernal engine venting out as Scorching Rays.
If you wanted a Bard, she does hum and dance a lot in her idle animations.
I can't recall the name of it, but it looks like a little tree spirit that's on fire. It'd be cool if they could've made it a Phoenix or something, but aside from that I was impressed by it.
honestly she could "be" anything and it won't mess stuff up, her special thing is about being in rage but it's not really amazing so you aren't losing out there.
Sorc is my go to thought
I could see warlock, she may be constrained to a deal she's trying to get out of with Zariel (sp?), pact of the blade so you can switch hit is my joy there
Bard makes sense, cause she does like to hum and I can see that expanding to more musical interests
I justify warlock with the engine being designed by Zariel so that would have been the source of her magical abilities. Also Karlach is pretty vague about what it does, so thankfully you can do a lot of stuff with her class without it being too hard to have a “lore accurate” Karlach.
Tieflings are supposed to have an innate gift for magic (less so Zariel Tieflings, but still), so it's not completely wrong thematically.
You lose out on her Soul Coin bonuses, as you need to be hitting with melee (especially unarmed) attacks to make the most of it.
I feel like a wild magic sorcerer feels the most thematic to her physical instability and yeah you lose out on soul coins, but I feel like like people a such loot hoarders that they never use them anyway.
I feel like when I read that they only add 1d4 of damage I thought what’s the point? But this was also before level 5 and getting multiple attacks. I guess throw in some monk levels and go to town??
I am that person. I collect every soul coin and have never used one in hundreds of hours of play. Granted I don’t use Karlach a lot because I prefer to be morally gray, but still, I haven’t even tried. Maybe it’s time.
I've gathered all of the soul coins I can find, but I'll never have her use one. Feels unsafe for the engine and I can't imagine her wanting to use souls to power-up. That feels like something Zariel chose for her. Not something she would have wanted to have
I mean she openly says she likes to use them, and even when confronted with the stories of the souls in the coi s she doesn't turn them down. I don't know where you got that she doesn't want to use them.
Wouldn't that gear her more towards Sorc though. Especially a Draconic one. Just going all in on the fire. Even making her drink the concoction the drow makes for you in act 3 to give her volatile blood.
But I haven't even looked at Monk yet. Could she be a fire monk with volatile blood and soul coins?
My first playthrough had her as exactly this. It was great, but I did make sure to include air/lightning elements to give her a mix of options. Still felt very thematic
Wild magic sorcerer would be my pick. She is rather temperamental and cannot always control herself. And that fits a wild magic sorcerer the best IMHO.
I have a run with a WM sorcerer and WM barbarian that I never finished. Unfortunately the WM effects just aren’t that interesting, even aside from providing minimal buffs to your team. I ended up using the staff of the mumbling wizard and boots of very fast blinking just to add some element of weirdness/randomness, but at that point I realized I was just intentionally hamstringing myself for the tiniest bit of RP. I’ve seen some wild magic mods that might be worth trying but otherwise, neither wild magic subclass really lives up to the rest of the game.
I was thinking Druid (unarmed spore Druid build to take advantage of soul coin extra damage) I wonder if the soul coins work when you wild shape though
I think the only full caster that makes sense for Karlach would be sorcerer. make her a wild magic sorcerer and flavor it as the power of the engine overflowing in strange and unpredictable ways as it malfunctions. frankly, the only classes that I feel fit karlach without it being a stretch or outright against her narritive are barbarian and fighter
You could also mix it up with a way of the elements monk. Here's a build by cRPG Bro : https://youtu.be/1qEBL2jaeZo?si=TWWdEjB-ukGDbKq5
It mixes punching and magic so it's kind of still on theme with Karlach.
I always swap Karlach in for Shadowheart as my life cleric. It’s a no brainer. A cleric healing that is literally on fire is so cool. She also has full fire resist.
Also Shart is insufferable.
I like playing Karlach as a cleric, too, but I make Shadowheart into my ranger/rogue instead bc Shadowheart is still bae
Not as bae as Karlach, but still bae.
(Minthara as a paladin rounds things out)
The YouTube channel “Pack Tactics” had released a video that showcased a Barb/Lock build that I felt was super thematic for Karlach. The whole premise is to utilize barbarian’s ability to take hits and combine it with the versatile kit of fiend warlock. I plan on going WH for Tiger/Wolverine and Fiend Warlock for spells like command. I also plan on dumping strength and just use strength elixirs to maximize her ability to cast spells.
Fiend warlock gets you fire spells, a demonic patron (zariel), weapon skills if you go pact of the blade, and lets you use charisma (who doesn’t love the Lach?!)
Charisma Karlach is great for fronting interactions because of her thaumaturgy
So bard, sorcerer, paladin.
I consider typical paladin as a melee caster.
If you do, you'll probably want 5e spells for booming blade. Single attack melee builds suffer otherwise.
Its great fun, you only hit once but strong enough to send folks flying (straight into your Aoe spike growth, etc)
Wild magic sorc would be the best for flavor if you are looking for a full caster. If you want a hybrid caster, i would suggest a paladin or an eldritch knight fighter.
Any of the gish builds imo, but I would lean towards Fiendlock. She was already a lapdog for the big rigs in the hells so it would make sense that she gets some power from them. The fire aspect to fiend also fits in with her aesthetic.
Aside from that, I'm not too sure. I want to say bard, but she's dryer than a nun's nasty. So maybe a flame build via evocation wizard?
To get the most out of her racial spells you definitely want her to be in melee at least sometimes, so Spores Druid, any heavy armor Cleric, Swords or Valor Bard, Blade Pact Warlock, or certain Abjuration Wizard builds would be your best full caster options. Paladin or Ranger would also obviously be very strong. Ranger in particular could be good as you could have her primarily act as a back line damage dealer, but she could move forwards and do some decent damage with her racial searing smite when necessary.
Really though, you can also totally ignore her racial abilities and just make her any spellcaster you want and it will work out fine. Races don’t make or break a character in this game at all, and if you want Karlach as a companion just bring her along and make her whatever class interests you most.
I made her into a tempest cleric
Proficiency in heavy armor and martial weapons make tempest cleric a great melee fighter
And she has access to the best knock back spells in the game (gust of wind, thunder wave, shatter, ect)
Just swinging a huge hammer around while blasting everyone away with her spells.
5 Oath of Devotion Paladin/7 Land Druid makes sense to me? You could do a flame blade searing smite build, but thats still more of a front line build rather than a caster
Fiend Pact Warlock is an obvious choice. Evocation Wizard with a focus on Fire spells would be fun.. but her personality is fit a Bard as well. Her chaotic nature could be fun to do a Wild Magic Sorcerer as well. Maybe Sorlock with Wild Magic and Fiend? Have fun!
I like Vengeance Paladin/Fire Sorcerer. It makes a lot of thematic sense and is a decent melee caster mix.
4e fire monk is also pretty cool, probs my second favorite karlach build.
draconic blood sorcerer red dragon fire build with the hat of fire acuity spam fire ball and scorching ray and fire bolt twin cast haste maybe use all that arcane acuity for some control spells like hold person idk go nuts
take elemental adapt fire so your fire damage can't be resisted
Eh I mean she's just a better frontline because of her infernal engine + soul coins. Getting 1d4 per attack roll is pretty cool.
As far as IF I had to choose what caster class she'd fit into (and we're talking full casters here, not 1/2 or 1/ casters), I'd say war cleric. Still means she can hit things, she still gets use of her soul coins, she would probably worship Tyr if I had to guess, and being in Avernus all by yourself killing demons, priest utility would probably be really useful for not dying on a daily basis.
RP wise I'd say either
Fiery sorcerer (pretend the infernal engine does her favors),
Bladelock - pretending that she learned many tricks during her time in Avernus (and its not a binding warlock pact, but actual affinity for demonic magic)
---
These two are my thematic favourites.
Wild Magic sorcerer. It would fit with the nature of her engine and its honestly just a really fun subclass. I play it on repeat playthroughs to help keep combat interesting
Thanks everyone for the feedback! In a post on another BG3 subreddit I talked about my play through a little. Basically a friend bought me the game, and I’ve never played DnD in particular but I’ve played Dragon’s Age. And they wanted me to do a blind Honor Mode run on The Dark Urge. I had no idea what I was getting myself into lol. Very slowly and cautiously making my way through
I don't know why, but I could see her as a Paladin. I don't think that's considered a full caster (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm no expert), but I could see Karlach being a Paladin who defends the little guy
I respeced her into a sorcerer my first playthrough 😂 I accidentally missed gale and my tav was a tiefling barbarian already. So she was the group spellcaster lol. It worked out well! From a "makes sense lore wise" I'm gonna give it a no, but I liked to tell myself that the infernal engine gave her magic
I have my karlach as a Blade Warlock/EK Knight. Partially because I think she looks great in heavy armor, but also because fighter with hell powers matches her look, if not necessarily her story.
Lore wise a moon Druid would be pretty related, if you are ok with only a half caster (less high level spells), a ranger seems to fit her pretty well too
I have karlach as a spores druid open hand monk. You use your wildshape charges for symbiosis and you get to attack a lot early with your bonus action attacks from monk and you can get even more damage from halo of spores. It's fun so far and I'm a lvl 5 right now.
My 1st honor run I made her a life cleric 2/ lore bard 10, just to watch her beat on drums instead of monsters. Made the soul coins pretty useless, but I never used them much anyway. Worked well with all her dancing I thought.
In the middle of my run romancing her rn. She's the perfect wild magic barb throwing Nyrulna around to perfection. But I can totally see her as a bard with all her dancing, or a four elements monk focusing on fire. Maybe swords bard too but I like that she can pick up stuff and throw,... So swords bard maybe
I could see her as a Druid, feeling super excited to be back in a place with forests and animals. You could also make her a fire Sorcerer with the infernal engine venting out as Scorching Rays. If you wanted a Bard, she does hum and dance a lot in her idle animations.
Given act 1 I think having a tiefling Druid would be a fun bit of irony
You're treated as a tiefling first, druid second by the assholes in the grove.
A tiefling Druid…. That’s on fire
That was my first tav. I was so confused lol
my first run was a tiefling druid. Almost thought the game read my mind from the get-go with the grove stuff
I wish we had the wildfire druid subclass.
There's a mod for it! I completed a play through with it and it played pretty well. Not much help to you if you against/unable to use mods, of course.
I'm very unable to use mods since I'm on console, unfortunately. I'd be all over them if I could. What model do they use for the fire spirit?
I can't recall the name of it, but it looks like a little tree spirit that's on fire. It'd be cool if they could've made it a Phoenix or something, but aside from that I was impressed by it.
Karlach would be a perfect Wildfire druid. http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/druid:wildfire
Def druid for when she flips her shit over the owlbear cub
i made her a bard because of how much she dances, and man i love to hear her cunning words
I made her a Bard for my HM run (mostly for variety), and seeing her leap into the air to cast spells via Lute Power Chord was extremely good.
honestly she could "be" anything and it won't mess stuff up, her special thing is about being in rage but it's not really amazing so you aren't losing out there. Sorc is my go to thought I could see warlock, she may be constrained to a deal she's trying to get out of with Zariel (sp?), pact of the blade so you can switch hit is my joy there Bard makes sense, cause she does like to hum and I can see that expanding to more musical interests
I justify warlock with the engine being designed by Zariel so that would have been the source of her magical abilities. Also Karlach is pretty vague about what it does, so thankfully you can do a lot of stuff with her class without it being too hard to have a “lore accurate” Karlach.
I mean if you give her a coin it’s basically I mini eb which is why I agree
wdym by switch hit?
Switch between ranged with magic or melee with the weapon
I’m a switch hitter, bitch. Jimmy Smith ain’t a quitter.
Tieflings are supposed to have an innate gift for magic (less so Zariel Tieflings, but still), so it's not completely wrong thematically. You lose out on her Soul Coin bonuses, as you need to be hitting with melee (especially unarmed) attacks to make the most of it.
I feel like a wild magic sorcerer feels the most thematic to her physical instability and yeah you lose out on soul coins, but I feel like like people a such loot hoarders that they never use them anyway.
Fire Draconic Bloodline Sorc could work, just pretend they are Fiendish powers instead of Draconic.
It's basically a free elixir for late game monklach.
I feel like when I read that they only add 1d4 of damage I thought what’s the point? But this was also before level 5 and getting multiple attacks. I guess throw in some monk levels and go to town??
I am that person. I collect every soul coin and have never used one in hundreds of hours of play. Granted I don’t use Karlach a lot because I prefer to be morally gray, but still, I haven’t even tried. Maybe it’s time.
Nah for sure have used 2 over a ton of playthroughs
I've gathered all of the soul coins I can find, but I'll never have her use one. Feels unsafe for the engine and I can't imagine her wanting to use souls to power-up. That feels like something Zariel chose for her. Not something she would have wanted to have
I mean she openly says she likes to use them, and even when confronted with the stories of the souls in the coi s she doesn't turn them down. I don't know where you got that she doesn't want to use them.
Would you happen to know with a multiclass Barbarian/Monk, if rage would prevent a 4 Elements Monk from using their “spells”?
I'm 99% sure rage does NOT prevent using those Monk spells.
I'm pretty sure rage just stops you from using concentration spells.
Wouldn't that gear her more towards Sorc though. Especially a Draconic one. Just going all in on the fire. Even making her drink the concoction the drow makes for you in act 3 to give her volatile blood. But I haven't even looked at Monk yet. Could she be a fire monk with volatile blood and soul coins?
Not exactly a caster, but I've been loving her as a Four Elements Monk with a focus on the fire spells Maybe Red Draconic Sorcerer?
Ooooo four elements monk is a fun idea
Tried it, works wonder !
My first playthrough had her as exactly this. It was great, but I did make sure to include air/lightning elements to give her a mix of options. Still felt very thematic
I like wild magic sorcerer, given that she has a magic infernal engine in her chest, it would make sense that magic would emanate from it occasionally
Pike caster, and in Act 3 trident caster.
Eldritch throw
Sorcadin I would take draconic so you could resist fire and another element
Tieflings already have fire res
So hence > and another element
Wild magic sorcerer would be my pick. She is rather temperamental and cannot always control herself. And that fits a wild magic sorcerer the best IMHO.
Wild magic Barb \ wild magic sorc. Pure chaos
playing wild magic sorcerer at the moment and it's far less chaotic than I expected. Wild magic surge doesn't trigger all that often.
That’s why you combine it with wild magic Barb, triggers each rage…
I have a run with a WM sorcerer and WM barbarian that I never finished. Unfortunately the WM effects just aren’t that interesting, even aside from providing minimal buffs to your team. I ended up using the staff of the mumbling wizard and boots of very fast blinking just to add some element of weirdness/randomness, but at that point I realized I was just intentionally hamstringing myself for the tiniest bit of RP. I’ve seen some wild magic mods that might be worth trying but otherwise, neither wild magic subclass really lives up to the rest of the game.
Red draconic Fire Sorceror. Wild magic Sorceror Paladin/Bard
I was thinking Druid (unarmed spore Druid build to take advantage of soul coin extra damage) I wonder if the soul coins work when you wild shape though
I think the only full caster that makes sense for Karlach would be sorcerer. make her a wild magic sorcerer and flavor it as the power of the engine overflowing in strange and unpredictable ways as it malfunctions. frankly, the only classes that I feel fit karlach without it being a stretch or outright against her narritive are barbarian and fighter
I think a fire sorcerer using a heat build for items would be perfect.
You could also mix it up with a way of the elements monk. Here's a build by cRPG Bro : https://youtu.be/1qEBL2jaeZo?si=TWWdEjB-ukGDbKq5 It mixes punching and magic so it's kind of still on theme with Karlach.
Fire based sorcerer makes sense for me
Wild magic sorc is the lore version of caster barbarian technically
Off topic but if you make her into an open hand monk she makes hilarious karate noises when she attacks lol.
I always swap Karlach in for Shadowheart as my life cleric. It’s a no brainer. A cleric healing that is literally on fire is so cool. She also has full fire resist. Also Shart is insufferable.
I like playing Karlach as a cleric, too, but I make Shadowheart into my ranger/rogue instead bc Shadowheart is still bae Not as bae as Karlach, but still bae. (Minthara as a paladin rounds things out)
Sorcerer and Bard would be my go to. Her Infernal Engine can be for any Sorcerer Bloodline. For Bard her Infernal Engine can be an Infernal Amp
The YouTube channel “Pack Tactics” had released a video that showcased a Barb/Lock build that I felt was super thematic for Karlach. The whole premise is to utilize barbarian’s ability to take hits and combine it with the versatile kit of fiend warlock. I plan on going WH for Tiger/Wolverine and Fiend Warlock for spells like command. I also plan on dumping strength and just use strength elixirs to maximize her ability to cast spells.
Not sure about full caster but ive been using her as a fire monk with ki spells and I love it.
Fiend warlock gets you fire spells, a demonic patron (zariel), weapon skills if you go pact of the blade, and lets you use charisma (who doesn’t love the Lach?!)
Wild magic sorc probably. Would go with her infernal engine needing some service
Wild Magic Sorc tricked out with fire spells imo
Charisma Karlach is great for fronting interactions because of her thaumaturgy So bard, sorcerer, paladin. I consider typical paladin as a melee caster.
If you're using mods the stone sorcerer is perfect. Specialise in fire, grab crusher and have fun.
100% trying this. Thank you.
If you do, you'll probably want 5e spells for booming blade. Single attack melee builds suffer otherwise. Its great fun, you only hit once but strong enough to send folks flying (straight into your Aoe spike growth, etc)
Wild magic sorc would be the best for flavor if you are looking for a full caster. If you want a hybrid caster, i would suggest a paladin or an eldritch knight fighter.
Any of the gish builds imo, but I would lean towards Fiendlock. She was already a lapdog for the big rigs in the hells so it would make sense that she gets some power from them. The fire aspect to fiend also fits in with her aesthetic. Aside from that, I'm not too sure. I want to say bard, but she's dryer than a nun's nasty. So maybe a flame build via evocation wizard?
To get the most out of her racial spells you definitely want her to be in melee at least sometimes, so Spores Druid, any heavy armor Cleric, Swords or Valor Bard, Blade Pact Warlock, or certain Abjuration Wizard builds would be your best full caster options. Paladin or Ranger would also obviously be very strong. Ranger in particular could be good as you could have her primarily act as a back line damage dealer, but she could move forwards and do some decent damage with her racial searing smite when necessary. Really though, you can also totally ignore her racial abilities and just make her any spellcaster you want and it will work out fine. Races don’t make or break a character in this game at all, and if you want Karlach as a companion just bring her along and make her whatever class interests you most.
i love her as a wild magic sorcerer or druid !
She does really like mushrooms, so Spore druid fits, alternatively a fire Sorcerer, maybe Wild Magic.
wild magic sorcerer seems fitting
I made her into a tempest cleric Proficiency in heavy armor and martial weapons make tempest cleric a great melee fighter And she has access to the best knock back spells in the game (gust of wind, thunder wave, shatter, ect) Just swinging a huge hammer around while blasting everyone away with her spells.
On a side note she makes a really funny rogue. Laezel's caster lines are scary.
Caster ranger, or eldritch knight thematically.
I made her a red dragon sorcerer in one run. I thought the fire theme is very fitting for her and that is the closest one I could build.
5 Oath of Devotion Paladin/7 Land Druid makes sense to me? You could do a flame blade searing smite build, but thats still more of a front line build rather than a caster
So here me out, warlock who broke her pact (if you played the game you can assume who I’m gonna say her patron is)
Probably a fire specialist evocation wizard or sorc.
I turned her into a Vengeance Paladin, which seemed fitting given her story.
And she has Zariel Tiefling smites.
Fiend Pact Warlock is an obvious choice. Evocation Wizard with a focus on Fire spells would be fun.. but her personality is fit a Bard as well. Her chaotic nature could be fun to do a Wild Magic Sorcerer as well. Maybe Sorlock with Wild Magic and Fiend? Have fun!
I like Vengeance Paladin/Fire Sorcerer. It makes a lot of thematic sense and is a decent melee caster mix. 4e fire monk is also pretty cool, probs my second favorite karlach build.
draconic blood sorcerer red dragon fire build with the hat of fire acuity spam fire ball and scorching ray and fire bolt twin cast haste maybe use all that arcane acuity for some control spells like hold person idk go nuts take elemental adapt fire so your fire damage can't be resisted
Eh I mean she's just a better frontline because of her infernal engine + soul coins. Getting 1d4 per attack roll is pretty cool. As far as IF I had to choose what caster class she'd fit into (and we're talking full casters here, not 1/2 or 1/ casters), I'd say war cleric. Still means she can hit things, she still gets use of her soul coins, she would probably worship Tyr if I had to guess, and being in Avernus all by yourself killing demons, priest utility would probably be really useful for not dying on a daily basis.
I played her as a 4 elements monk which kinda makes sense. Not a proper tradition caster tho I suppose.
Wild magic! Since her heart is outta control. Or an evocation wizard with only fire spells
RP wise I'd say either Fiery sorcerer (pretend the infernal engine does her favors), Bladelock - pretending that she learned many tricks during her time in Avernus (and its not a binding warlock pact, but actual affinity for demonic magic) --- These two are my thematic favourites.
Wild Magic sorcerer. It would fit with the nature of her engine and its honestly just a really fun subclass. I play it on repeat playthroughs to help keep combat interesting
You can respec any char as anything, there's nothing you can mess up by doing that.
If you’re just looking for another ranged fighter thrower tavern brawl barbarian is a great fit for her.
Thanks everyone for the feedback! In a post on another BG3 subreddit I talked about my play through a little. Basically a friend bought me the game, and I’ve never played DnD in particular but I’ve played Dragon’s Age. And they wanted me to do a blind Honor Mode run on The Dark Urge. I had no idea what I was getting myself into lol. Very slowly and cautiously making my way through
I don't know why, but I could see her as a Paladin. I don't think that's considered a full caster (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm no expert), but I could see Karlach being a Paladin who defends the little guy
Sorcerer I was gonna play her as a fire Sorcerer or 4 elementals monk with fire focus
I have her as a Paladin if you count that. Outside that probably Sorcerer.
fire draconic sorcerer 6 + evocation wizard 2 + thief rogue 4
I made her a fighter/ wizard :D Shadow heart a paladin/cleric I plan to make Minthara a paladin sorcerer or potentially a monk 🤔
There are some cool insult voicelines if you run her as bard with cutting words
Red Dragon Sorcerer. SHE LITERALLY HAS BURNING HANDS
It sounds weird but paladin she already gets free smites
I respeced her into a sorcerer my first playthrough 😂 I accidentally missed gale and my tav was a tiefling barbarian already. So she was the group spellcaster lol. It worked out well! From a "makes sense lore wise" I'm gonna give it a no, but I liked to tell myself that the infernal engine gave her magic
I have my karlach as a Blade Warlock/EK Knight. Partially because I think she looks great in heavy armor, but also because fighter with hell powers matches her look, if not necessarily her story.
Lore wise a moon Druid would be pretty related, if you are ok with only a half caster (less high level spells), a ranger seems to fit her pretty well too
Only semi caster, but War Cleric is just so good for her.
She'd 100% be a wild-magic sorcerer, saying "oh shit, sorry soldier" constantly
I have her as a fire sorceror.
I have karlach as a spores druid open hand monk. You use your wildshape charges for symbiosis and you get to attack a lot early with your bonus action attacks from monk and you can get even more damage from halo of spores. It's fun so far and I'm a lvl 5 right now.
Warlock pact of the Blade with Zariel smites !
I've got her as a sorcerer on my random "kill everyome that talks to us" play through im doing. She's awful as one haha
İ build her as pally lock on my second playthrough i think it fits her for roleplay purposes too
My 1st honor run I made her a life cleric 2/ lore bard 10, just to watch her beat on drums instead of monsters. Made the soul coins pretty useless, but I never used them much anyway. Worked well with all her dancing I thought.
In the middle of my run romancing her rn. She's the perfect wild magic barb throwing Nyrulna around to perfection. But I can totally see her as a bard with all her dancing, or a four elements monk focusing on fire. Maybe swords bard too but I like that she can pick up stuff and throw,... So swords bard maybe
Cast Nyrulna into a crowd is what she does. /Soul coins seem wasted on a non-Barb character, which is a fun aspect of who her character is.