Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks 5e rules for vampires ARE in effect!

I noticed yesterday that during a certain event that takes place near some streams and a beach, that Astarion kept mysteriously taking Acid damage and went down.
I figured that it was maybe an enemy that I couldn't see, or an environmental effect that wasn't drawing in properly...

So I stopped what I was doing and analyzed the situation. We're all standing in a small stream, but he's the only one taking damage... now why would- Oh. Oh wow. GENIUS.
Of course, the 5e playbook states that running water is harmful to vampires, which means that he was going to continually take Acid damage until I moved him out of it.
So it looks like the tadpole was able to influence his ability to ignore the harmful effects of sunlight, but not quite so strong as to protect him from other elements that vampires find hazardous.
This felt like a bit of a clue as to what the limitations of the tadpole's effects are on people.

I was honestly shocked and so pleased that the rule was actually included, and I'm glad that Larian is genuinely trying their best to adhere to the rulebook while still keeping things fun.

So be sure to keep your vampire buddies safe and clear! (Puddles and standing water are perfectly fine though, so if Astarion starts to stink, just make him "bird bath" himself.)

This does however mean that you need to be very mindful about crossing any water with a non-Astarion character in the lead, as Astarion will refuse to do so, and will run the long way around, regardless of what is there (enemies, traps).

Looks like he's going to be getting a lot more mileage out of Jump than my other characters will be.

That's so cool. Which makes it even stranger that Larian decided not to go the day night cycle route.

His character bio says that since being 'infected' by the tadpole he's no longer affected by daylight which makes it strange that he's affected by running water.

The tadpole is having all kinds of odd effects, but maybe it doesn't universally apply to removing all of the vampire weaknesses that we're aware of.
I'm hoping to stumble into some other things like this to give me some more insight on how exactly the tadpole changes a person's physiology.

This is another 5e weakness, wonder if there any way to test to see if they included that?

Forbiddance. The vampire can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.

He didn't last night for me. He followed me and ran straight into the running water and took damage. That's how I learned they put that feature in.

And I found it strange because the tadpole protects him from the sun, but not running water...maybe they don't like water?

The update today has had Astarion completely refusing to cross water. He just stops at the edge, or tries to find a way to go around since he considers it to be a hazard.

I love this tidbit of detail.

that would be horrible for gameplay. 99% of players would never take him in the party if they couldn't move around during the day. This is one time when gameplay supercedes rules and I'm happy they chose to go this route.

All adds to the immersion

Just add a cape of sun resistance as a sidequest, duh.

About entering homes uninvited - he mentions that he now can do this - when you enter the Tea House. And he is very delighted by it