Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Wyll + Karlach party composition - help needed

Almost at the end of another play though so looking at what I want to do for the next one.

I know party wise that I want to take Karlach with me for the romance and Wyll as he's the only companion I've not done a full run through with yet (all previous run throughs he has spent the entire time at camp, literally not taken him anywhere).
That leaves me stumped as to what to fill the last two slots with.

Firstly there's me... Given the best way to get approval with both Karlach and Wyll is to essentially be a Do-Gooder I'm leaning heavily towards Paladin - taking Oath of the Ancients to provide some healing support.
However this leaves me feeling short someone to provide both trap-disarming and strong crowd-control options (e.g. confusion, hold person, etc) - I know Wyll can provide Hold Person (for example) but given the shortage of Warlock spell slots in a fight I feel a second source would be beneficial here.

Which then leaves me in a bit of a dilemma for the last slot. Astarion is the only high dex companion out of the box so for trap-disarming he's great, but he doesn't have the Int to support Arcane Trickster, (yes I know there's the int head item, but there's better suited head items for him I feel). Shadowheart is solid for CC out of the box but has nothing to support slight of hand activities.

I've done Cleric, don't fancy being a Bard and I'm saving my Spore Druid for a less good playthrough.

Also I lean more towards the RP aspect than the Power Play - (so I'm more interested in something that "feels" right than something that does 20 attacks per turn for a million damage) as long as it's viable in a normal mode fight (whatever the middle difficulty option is)

So what's the best way forward here? Give Wyll some levels in Sorcerer to boost his spell slots? Re-distribute Shadowhearts stats and give her some Thief? Make Astarion a Bard?

I'd would rather keep my companions as close to their concepts as possible again for RP reasons (so I'm not keen on level 12 Wyll not having any levels in Warlock for example - ideally I'd keep him a rapier wielding blade lock at least for a few levels).

How about a monk? Dex based, so can take care of your traps and disarms. Especially if you pick up the Gloves of Thievery... slap 'em on, have advantage to disarm, go back to combat gloves afterwards. Monks can be considered enlightened, so fit nicely into a good playthrough. Since wisdom impacts their armor and their effects (knockdowns and such), that means you could also choose to MC them a bit into, say, a cleric (since monks are also associated with temples). It won't fit Asterion, Gale, or whatever, but you can use one of the hirelings instead. Or if you use the class for your MC, but then you'll probably be wanting a good healer/support type in the 4th slot.

But off-hand, the solution I'd recommend is turning Asterion in a bard. I think it fits his personality pretty well, fits nicely into the "sleight of hand" character slot, means your MC isn't a bard, and it is a very flexible class. You do have three subclasses, to pick from. The Lore caster one (which can make a great healer/support, get Warden of Vitality at level 6), the combat buffing Valour, and then the more damage dealing Swords. Basically, where normal rogue Asterion is more focused on stalking prey, a bard one would be a bit more focused on charisma. And if you do want some rogue on Asterion regardless, well, just MC into Rogue at some point after 6.

Man just Forget Karlach yu will have a Better Experience in the Game
i only bring her Once and Jesus was the worst experience i ever had in this game she even broke gortash scene at act 3
i never had the same problem with any other Character but the Run i Made with her in the Party jesus.. Just Broke my Game really Hard
so Much that i Avoid her till this day and always kill her.

What about taking Gale? He fits well into a good aligned party and he has access most of the CC spells. If you pick the Enchantment subclass your enchantment spells will be able to target two instead of one enemies when you reach level 10. Which is quite strong for spells like hold monster or dominate person.

Obviously you wouldn't have anyone excel at slight of hand, but there are enough other ways to deal with traps and locks.
To get your creativity started: What's the point of lockpicking if you can simply burn down the door?

True.
Karlach + greatsowrd/great maul = open doors and chests ...

Respeccing can be fun too - Shadowheart as the sapper looks good. FOr me t was a let dwn that she no longer had the Urchin Background. But multiclassing her into Rogue - even for a single lvl for the Sleigh of Hand Expertiese - could bring that back.

For that 4th slot - Hireling?

Easy - Astarion Thief 4/Bard (College of Swords) 8

Covers all bases, lockpicking, dialogue, support and if you want multiple ranged attacks/round, especially deadly with duel hand crossbows

Still have an open party slot for Cleric, Paladin whatever.

You mentioned spore druid which is very fun to play - you could always wait to recruit Jaheira and respec as her spore druid.

without fully respeccing

main - try ranger/thief
karlack - few levels of warior can help a lot
wyll - bardlock works quite well - warlock 5 and swords bard I found was ok and quite fun.
shadowheart
swap in gale for blasting sometimes

I just make Wyll a thief. Lots and lots of great daggers in the game and Astarian doesn't fit into a good party very well.

I one of my playthroughs I gave him a lvl of Rogue for the Sleight of Hand Expertise. Worked well.
His listing did look a bit odd, though - Warlock 1, Rogue 1, Paladin 3 ...

Thanks guys.

I've finally started my run through as a Paladin, taking Astartion and teaching him to Bard (probably using a Rogue 4/Bard 8 split) .. just got to decide on his College and Wylls Pact. In isolation I'm tempted to go Swords on Astarion and Blade on Wyll.. but in the context of the group that's 4 melee characters.

In my Wyll focussed run i mostly had also Karlach with me as my characters best friend. I mostly switched the 4th party place with who ever i just neeeded for certain quests, as in switching between Gale, or Shadowheart or Astarion or in the endgamne Lae'zel.

My main was Vengence Paladin/ Swords College bard to date Wyll. Was a mostly well balanced team.

Mine was almost exactly the same, Rebel Moon! My Durge was a vengeance paladin / lore bard, who honestly felt like a swiss army knife in terms of usefulness (she could heal, tank, damage, buff, debuff, handle locks and traps, etc). Wyll was in the party 100% of the time once he joined and Karlach 80% of the time. The last space was broadly for whoever seemed most appropriate - but sometimes a second different character would need to be rotated in, hence giving Karlach a few short rests.

I was very happy with how this team turned out. Karlach is naturally a very reliable source of damage, due to reckless attack. I made sure that Wyll was similarly reliable by giving him the risky ring so he always attacks with advantage (plus the daredevil gloves, so he could cast easily in melee too if needed). Both of them also turned out to be very tanky, with Karlach's bear aspect giving her resistance to most damage and Wyll frequently getting temp HP due to landing the final blow on enemies. Wyll additionally has so much utility with spells like invisibility, hold person, and gaseous form. Now don't get me wrong: any situation is made easier by having Shadowheart cast Spirit Guardians and run around. But Wyll and Karlach are super-effective too.

Wyll and Karlach are our favourites too Estellindis. It's nice to see Wyll Chill. Karlach gets well-deserved love so no complaints there.

We switch the 4th place the same way you do Rebel Moon.

I personally rotate my characters like musical chairs. My romance character is in party 90% of the time. I try to get everyone's approval and it is possible and depending your character choices.

I reclass everyone, even if I'm repecing for the same class, mainly because everyone's stats was intially distributed poorly by the devs. But even with that, it's still tempting to change their class regardless.

This is my usual class assignment

Astarion - Lvl 8 Bard - CoS/Lvl 4 Rogue - Thief
Gale - Wizard - Evoker
Halsin - Lvl 4 Ranger - Beast Master/Lvl 8 Druid - CotM
Jaheira - Druid - CotL
Karlach - Lvl 9 Fighter/Lvl 3 Barbarian - Wild Heart (Bear)
Laezel - Lvl 8 Fighter/Lvl 4 Paladin - Oath Breaker
Minsc - Lvl 3 Ranger - Gloom Stalker/Lvl 9 Rogue - Thief
Minthara - Lvl 8 Fighter/Lvl 4 Paladin - Vengence
Shadowheart - Cleric - Light
Wyll - Lvl 4 Bard - CoS/Lvl 8 Warlock - Fiend