Baldur’s Gate 3: Can You Recruit Karlach With Wyll in Party?

Learn whether you can recruit Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 with Wyll in the party, the repercussions for your choice, and more.

Baldur's Gate 3: Karlach and Wyll [Source; Larian Studios]
Baldur’s Gate 3: Karlach and Wyll [Source; Larian Studios]

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a host of companion characters with detailed backstories. Two of them are intertwined from the get-go, namely Wyll and Karlach. The answer to the titular question is yes, but there are some consequences that one of the two has to face.

Mizora, his patron, has to hunt down and kill Karlach. If you have chosen to play with Wyll as your primary character, the first long rest will see Mizora appear to remind you about your task. If you decide to spare Karlach with Wyll in the party, the patron devil considers that as Wyll breaking the pact and gives him a fiendish appearance with horns.

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Baldur’s Gate 3: Can You Recruit Karlach Without Wyll Getting Horns?

You can spare Karlach in BG3 [Source: Larian Studios]
You can spare Karlach in BG3 [Source: Larian Studios]

While a workaround to recruit Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 without Wyll earning punishment with the fiendish appearance did exist, it doesn’t seem possible anymore. The earlier bypass was:

  • Once you find Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, kill her from a distance to ensure you don’t trigger her dialogue sequence.
  • Use the Scroll of Revivify to resurrect Karlach, but avoid yet again engaging her dialog sequence.
  • Go back to the camp and initiate a Long Rest.
  • Mizora will arrive, satisfied with the demise of Karlach, and reward Wyll.
  • Get back to Karlach and recruit her.

While this seems pretty neat and allows you to get Karlach in your Baldur’s Gate 3 party without Wyll getting the horns, Patch 5 put an end to it. The patch notes mentioned:

  • Mizora should appear for her judgement of Wyll only when Karlach is actually dead. (Resurrecting her will cancel the moment.)
  • If Wyll somehow managed to avoid Mizora’s punishment for keeping Karlach alive, he can suffer his punishment retroactively.

YouTuber GAMOTALK has claimed to find another workaround post-patch 5 to get a hornless Wyll and Karlach as party members. We haven’t yet confirmed the details ourselves, but you can check the steps out in the embedded video:

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Where to find Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Karlach is found by the river near the Toll House near the Risen Road in BG3 (X:110, Y:499). You will need to go north of the Blighted Village. If Wyll is in your party, you will have a pointer to her because of his companion quest. You can also learn about Karlach’s location from Anders, a Paladin of Tyr, at the Toll House, who wants to slay her.

Where to find Wyll in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Wyll can be found outside the Emerald Grove during the goblin attack. Once the threat has been dealt with, he can be found inside teaching the Tiefling children how to use a sword.

Does Wyll Turn Into A Devil For Sparing Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Wyll, the Blade of Frontier [Source: Larian Studios]
Wyll, the Blade of Frontier [Source: Larian Studios]

The fiendish appearance that Wyll gets for sparing Karlach may leave some wondering if that means he has become a devil. That’s not what happens. To explain the transformation, you will need to check out Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus (specifically page 214). The book, which serves as a prologue to Baldur’s Gate 3, states:

“A character bound by an infernal contract who fails to pay the price specified in the contract immediately suffers a penalty for breaching the contract, as specified in the contract itself. Common penalties include the following:

  • The character’s soul is forfeit when the character dies (that is, the character is reborn in the Nine Hells as a lemure).
  • The character relinquishes all monetary wealth and property, or a powerful magic item (determined by the DM), to the devil.
  • The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can’t be removed by any means short of divine intervention (though illusions or disguises can conceal them). As long as these marks persist, the character is detected as a fiend when subjected to detect evil and good spells or similar magic.
  • The character gains a new flaw. A character who exhibits behavior inconsistent with this flaw has disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws until the behavior changes to match the flaw.”

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On sparing Karlach, Wyll breaks his pact with Mizora. For his punishment, he gets the fiendish appearance. All things considered, that’s one of the more lenient options from the above list.

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