Karlach

Karlach
Karlach
Role	Origin character, companion
Voiced by	Samantha Béart
Information
Full name	Karlach Cliffgate
Title	Fury of Avernus
Race	Zariel tiefling
Class	Barbarian
Background	Outlander
Hometown	Baldur's Gate; Avernus, Nine Hells
Family	Pluck Cliffgate (father, deceased); Caerlack Cliffgate (mother, deceased)
Stats
Size	Medium
Type	Humanoid
Armour Class	13
Hit points	14
Movement speed	9 m (30 ft)
Weight	90 kg (180 lb)
Initiative	+1
Ability scores
STR
STR	STR
Proficiency bonus	+2
Saving throws	Str +5; Dex +1; Con +4; Int -1; Wis +1; Cha 0;
Resistances
Resistant	Fire
Features
Hellish Resistance;	Gain Resistance to Fire damage.
Darkvision;	Can see in the dark up to 12m.
Opportunity Attack;	Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.

Template:Up to date

Karlach Cliffgate is an Origin character and a recruitable Companion with the Outlander background. She is a Tiefling and a Barbarian first appearing during Act 1.

Once a soldier in Zariel's army, circumstances have given her a new chance at life. Now, freed from Avernus, she will make the most out of it, and no one will get in her way. She can be found and recruited on The Risen Road during Act 1, and romanced by characters of any gender.

In multiplayer sessions, if Karlach is chosen as an origin by a player, Wyll will be locked as an option to any other players.

Avernus was never my home. It was my prison. I'm free now. And I'm never going back!
— Karlach, confronting servants of Zariel.

Overview

Background

Trapped in Avernus under Zariel's banner due to the machinations of those she trusted the most, Karlach has been fighting in the Blood War for a decade, away from all that she loved. Fate would smile on her and give her a way out, only to turn on her just as quickly, and she was tadpoled as she made her escape from Avernus. Now, free at last, though with an unwelcome guest in her head, she must protect her hard-won liberty with her life as she seeks revenge on those who crossed her many years ago. With a malfunctioning engine for a heart, and a burning desire to live, will she be able to save herself, or will hell catch up with her sooner or later?

Starting class

Karlach starts as a Barbarian, with a focus on two-handed weapons. Upon reaching level 3, she will default to the Wildheart subclass, granting her useful, if not sometimes unreliable, magic boons to pair with her martial skills.

Special features

Karlach can use Soul Coins to power up her mechanical heart, giving her the passive Infernal Fury, granting her an additional 1d4Fire damage on her attacks when raging or when her HP drops below 25%
Karlach's mechanical heart can be upgraded twice while progressing the story:
- The first heart upgrade grants her Heart of Iron, giving her Advantage on Saving Throws against Charmed effects
- The second heart upgrade grants her Heart Ablaze, giving her immunity against Charmed effects

Personal quest

Karlachs's personal quest is Our Fiery Friend, spanning all acts of the game. Throughout it, Karlach's past will attempt to catch up to her as she is just beginning to enjoy her freedom.

One more subquest ties into her personal quest: The Hellion's Heart. In it, Karlach and the party must deal with her mechanical heart and the problems it causes her. Furthermore, Hunt the Devil will have her hunted by Zariel's agents, and Wyll's companion quest, The Blade of Frontiers, also features her as an important character.

An origin Karlach replaces Our Fiery Friend and The Hellion's Heart with Servant of None and Forging a Heart, respectively.

Recruitment

Karlach will refuse to join the party if they have sided with the goblins and laid waste to the Emerald Grove before meeting her. She will also abandon the party if they decide to side with goblins.

Act One

Karlach can be found on The Risen Road, on a road near the Toll House, precicely at X: 111 Y: 503. Cornered by Zariel's bloodhounds, she can be found nursing her wounds after battle. The party can talk to her, and recruit her provided they agree to help her get rid of the ones hounding her. Returning to Anders and co. with Karlach in the party will ultimately result in battle.
- If Wyll is brought along for the first meeting with Karlach, the two will confront each other. Wyll reveals that Karlach is the quarry he's been hunting for his patron, while Karlach claims to be a victim, not an agent of Zariel. Either party can be sided with, though siding with Wyll results in battle with Karlach. The situation can also be defused by convincing Wyll that Karlach's words are true, as backed by the the vision everyone shares thanks to their tadpoles.

Approval

Karlach has a very strong sense of right and wrong. She enjoys helping innocent people with their troubles and not expecting anything in return, something she finds in common with Wyll after their rocky first meeting. She approves of kind interactions with those in need, standing up for what's right and being decisive with enemies. Setting her up for some fun, such as carousing or making some mayhem, also has earns her approval, and being a compassionate friend to her, or a kind partner, is the easiest way of earning her trust and love.

Karlach disapproves of indiscriminate violence, being insensitive to the plights of others and dismissive of her when she attempts to get closer. Dealing favourably with villains doesn't sit well with her, and siding with Gortash, even if strategically sound, earns her disdain. Minimizing her problems, especially that of her malfunctioning mechanical heart, is a sure way of earning her contempt.

Romance

Karlach can be romanced by characters of any gender. When romanced, Karlach's inability to touch their partner, and the pain of being physically isolated from everyone for so long, are issues that are explored and need to be overcome together.

Description

Appearance

Karlach is tall and well-built, her muscle-bound body toned after many years battling in the first layer of the Hells. Her vermilion skin is covered in scars and burns product of her time in Avernus, tattoos adorning her left arm and parts of her abdomen, while small exhaust vents on her shoulders billow steam whenever her ersatz mechanical heart flares up, clearly visible under her chest.

Despite her intimidating presence, Karlach has a soft and amiable face, with an easy smile on her lips. Her pointed ears stick out and her left horn curves backwards and out, while the right one seems to have been broken off some time ago. She keeps her hair, dark-brown with reddish accents, long and messy, falling on the right side of her neck, below the trimmed side of her head. Her eyes are dark yellow, with the distinctive tiefling slit pupil, and light moles and freckles mark her nose and upper cheeks.

Personality

Karlach is an extremely passionate individual who strives to live life to the fullest. She tends to speak excitedly regarding any of life's simple pleasures, whether that be food, drink, friends, or intimacy. Her demeanor is generally joyous and very forward, having no fear of loudly proclaiming her love of being alive and how much she cares for those close to her. Her positive disposition and infectious energy seem to allow her to make friends easily, even if her honesty can cause her to come off as somewhat naive at times. ^{[note 1]}

Though oft friendly, Karlach is a very phsyical person and is not above getting into a brawl if provoked. She can be impulsive and easy to goad, and will lose sense and reason when confronting people she despises. Years in Avernus have made her lonely, compounded by the fact that her mechanical heart kept her from having physical contact with others, let alone intimacy. When talking about Gortash, beneath her outward rage, lie deep pain and a sense of betrayal, making her wary of trusting others as she once did. Despite their moral differences, she gets along well with Astarion due to both wanting to live their life outside the shadow of their abusers.

History

In Baldur's Gate

Avernus and the Blood War

Karlach was a citizen of the Lower City of Baldur's Gate before being taken prisoner and forced to fight in the Blood War, the eternal conflict between demons and devils. She was a prisoner and champion of Zariel, Archdevil and ruler of Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. Taking a risky chance on escape, Karlach boarded a hostile Mind Flayer ship when it appeared in the sky of Avernus. Using it, she made her escape from the Hells but was infected with a Mind Flayer Tadpole in the process. Now hunted, Karlach is a fugitive on the run from Zariel's forces, who seeks to have her warrior returned to her, and punished.

Karlach's lust for life hides the trauma of betrayal and fear of a life cut short. After becoming a trusted confidant (or so she believed) of Enver Gortash, the Banite sold Karlach out to Zariel as a lab rat to test her new invention, The Hellion's Heart. This forced her to live a life of conflict in the Nine Hells, as well as die relatively soon should she ever leave. Tyrants like Gortash and Zariel are some of the only things that can make Karlach act genuinely bitter and hateful due to how they stole away her chance at a normal life. Attempting to stop (or at least delay) the destruction of the infernal engine is the driving force of Karlach's personal mission, hoping to live in the world she loves for at least a while longer. ^{[note 2]}

Involvement

Our Fiery Friend

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Endings

Quest rewards

Interactions

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

While either played as an Origin, or in the party as a companion, Karlach has unique interactions in conversations with the following characters listed here. (List may not yet be complete)

Characters are grouped by the Act they are first encounterable in.

Act One:

Act Two:

Act Three:

Loot

Lae'zel can be killed and looted. She will have the same items as her starting equipment except for her underwear.

Starting equipment

Achievements

Hot Date
Go on a date with Karlach - now that's playing with fire.

Gallery

Karlach's first appearance in early access.
Karlach in Early Access.
Concept art with Karlach wearing a different starter armour (Unwanted Masterwork Scalemail).
Concept art with another starter armour.
Datamined Karlach restored by mods.
Datamined Karlach restored by mods.
Armour Concept Art by Jane Katsubo.
Armour Concept Art by Jane Katsubo.
Armour Concept Art by Jane Katsubo.
Promotional Wallpaper.
Character portrait by Edward Vanderghote.
Karlach's model.
Karlach's camp model.

Related literature

Notes

Can be spoken to with Speak with Dead.
Throughout development Karlach had multiple design changes.
- In Early Access she only had a placeholder model created with the same assets as a custom character. She had two horns and no scars and was a Fighter (with a datamined tag of a Paladin).
- Concept art shows different proposals for her face, initially planning to give her more scars and more aggressive features. She also had a few different starter armour designs with one repurposed to become Unwanted Masterwork Scalemail. Her other concept armour can be seen on her Magic the Gathering Card.

↑ Interactions with those who knew her prior to the events of the game's story imply that she has always been this exuberant, even as a poor child growing up in the outskirts of Baldur's Gate.
↑ Karlach was originally voiced by Shala Nyx in Early Access.

References

External links

Karlach on the Forgotten Realms Wiki

Karlachs's official 5E D&D Character Sheet on D&D Beyond (PDF)

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[1] Interactions with those who knew her prior to the events of the game's story imply that she has always been this exuberant, even as a poor child growing up in the outskirts of Baldur's Gate.

[2] Karlach was originally voiced by Shala Nyx in Early Access.

[note 1]

[note 2]