Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Does Astarion have to be a creeper tho

I don't mean to play down the feeling of uncomfort someone else has.

However I want to state that I'm surprised to hear that, because I didn't have that association with him at all. I expected the scene to be what it is: About a vampire draining blood, nothing with a sexual intention. Maybe that's because I was aware he's a vampire beforehand? Would you say that this knowledge would have changed what you instinctly felt at the start of the scene?
If you play through the scene, you also learn that he usually doesn't bite people and does not intend to bite you again (he would instead aim to drain blood of people you fight anyways).

To reply to your concerns and questions specifically:
- By no means does the game require you to recruit Astarion. For a replay, you can just ignore him entirely, never pick him up. I understand your shock due to your personal experience, but I feels it's wrong to accuse Larian of forcing the player to be around him. Ignore him, kill him if that feels true to you: That's all the things BG3 enables you to do.
- The bite isn't necessarily hurtful. You may not have played with him for long enough to know, but you can use his bite inside or outside of battle - and it clearly says it doesn't break stealth. This indicates for me that usually, the drain isn't hurtful - probably barely noticeable. This is in line with the bites of real campires (the bats). Their victims wouldn't wake up from a slumber or similar, because vampires are specilized in not hurting their victims so they have more success.