Baldur’s Gate 3 players have just discovered how to keep hold of Karlach after choosing to destroy the grove in Act One.
Just like typical Dungeons & Dragons, any choices you make in Baldur’s Gate 3 have a direct impact on how your companions view you. So, if you’re evil, then good companions like Karlach will start to dislike you. If they hate you too much then they end up leaving the camp and therefore your game for good.
Destroying an entire grove of tieflings and innocent NPCs is undeniably evil, even if you’re doing it to get hold of Minthara. Naturally, by doing this, it’s entirely likely that Karlach will end up hating your character so much that she’ll leave unless you do it like this.
Baldur’s Gate 3 player reveals how to keep Karlach after destroying Grove
Posting their discovery on Reddit, one user explained to the community how they found “a way to keep these 2 after I commit genocide for a beautiful princess with a disorder,” referring to Karlach, Wyll, and Minthara respectively.
They went on to say explain how they managed this: “First: Leave Karlach and Wyll back at the camp. After raiding the grove, go to camp and kill Karlach and Wyll, then tell Withers to take care of them or something. This will make their spirit and body linger around camp. Do NOT resurrect them yet.”
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Then, they revealed one key NPC that’ll help your cause: “Second: Go recruit Scratch. Third: Wait til Scratch arrives at camp. Fourth: Pet scratch.”
Shortly after doing this, even though they’re dead: “You will see the notif pop up ‘Karlach approves’. This will increase your points with her to a level where she will no longer leave. You can now resurrect Karlach and have them join the party. I suspect it is possible to do this with other camp interactions that Karlach and Wyll would approve of.”
It’s worth noting that the player only tried this on Karlach, and therefore assumed that it would work with Wyll. Others explained that they “think this only works for Karlach. For some reason, Wyll is hardcoded to leave as soon as you start the raid, even if he is dead/stored at withers/hidden in camp chest/etc.” So it’s likely you’ll only be able to keep hold of one key Companion.
Either way, as compromises go, it’s likely not the kindest, but it keeps Karlach in your party and lets you pet the dog, so it’s not all bad.