The Baldur's Gate 3 cast have all recorded their own version of the Barbarian's signature class ability, and the results are pretty interesting bits of character work.
This article contains some minor character spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3.
Karlach served as my Baldur's Gate 3 frontline for pretty much the entire game, which meant that I got pretty familiar with voice actor Samantha Béart's roar as the friendly tiefling entered Rage. Rage is a quintessential class feature of the Barbarian, reducing incoming damage and increasing outgoing damage as long as you take or deal a hit each turn. It's pretty essential in allowing the class to be the party's tank, and in the game, it comes with some gnarly sound effects as Béart unleashes the beast.
Karlach's effectiveness in her role meant that I never really considered finding an alternative damage sponge. But Baldur's Gate 3 lets you multiclass your characters, drawing from the skills of another class, should you want to; over the course of my playthrough, I turned Astarion into a Ranger and gave Shadowheart a Paladin twist after her religious journey. I never considered, however, that anyone and everyone could be turned into a Barbarian, whereupon they'd immediately have access to the Rage ability. That also means that each character would need their own roar.
turned all my companions into barbarians to see if they have their own rage roars and turns out they do. do the roar pic.twitter.com/0TR260Iyz9October 12, 2023
As it turns out, they each need four different roars, which you can see documented in this YouTube video. Most of them are pretty good at living up to the Rage; Wyll's got a lot of pent-up anger, Shadowheart and Lae'zel definitely have some repressed religious/cult trauma to get out, and the end of Astarion's character quest can certainly show off his own anguished yelling. One character who doesn't have much cause for shouting, however, is Gale.
The Wizard of Waterdeep certainly has his own obstacles to overcome, but they're much more 'getting over your ex' or 'dispelling your own self-importance' than 'coming to terms with the fact your whole life is a lie,' 'terminal heart explosion,' or 'two centuries of abuse.' Gale is also a far more scholarly chap than the rest of the party and doesn't really embody the physicality required to really let loose when his Rage kicks in. The result is something a bit like the punchline to the Scroll of Truth meme, in which the unfortunate protagonist lets out a disgruntled 'NYEHHH' and not so much an intimidating scream.
For what it's worth, I think that this is a great bit of characterization. Even at his most angry, Gale of Waterdeep is a scholar, not some hulking fighter, and he's clearly got some pent-up frustration rather than outright rage. There's a lot that's already been said about the Baldur's Gate 3 strength economy and how it's the women, not the men, who are running straight into the fray, so maintaining some more grumpy vocalizations for Gale is a very good fit.
Check out our full Baldur's Gate 3 class guide to help you decide how to shape each of your characters.
