Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Do you guys like Astarion as an NPC?

I know, yet those voices didn't ask for murder. That was her solution and I think it was in-character for Shadowheart. In the new scene she not-so subtly implies she will do whatever necessary to take the artifact back from your character. Considering that Shar seems to be involved in the main plot, either the party's interests align with Shar, or you manage to turn away Shadowheart from her faith, otherwise I could see Shadowheart turning on your character in the future. Similar to Lae'zel and Vlaaith.

Even then, he doesn't lie to you.

He tells you his situation, and it's not a good one, and before that he is reticent to tell you about it, but even then, he doens't just keep you completely blind - he tells you what he needs to remain healthy and asks you to trust that he is being honest about the seriousness of this need... And it turns out he is, in fact, being honest about the seriousness of the need. So... what lie?

I don't agree that it makes sense to refuse his request, either... why do you say it does? I've never had any issue giving him what he needs, personally. It's never been a burden to me to do so, and he's a friend that, unlike pretty most of the others, is actually decent to me as a person, so I'm happy to help him out when he asks.

Of course, makes sense to refute. You know someone for what, a few days max and he suddenly, look I need you to risk your life for me, but I won't tell you why. And you must agree to this and that's it. And he seems waaayyy too nice in my opinion. His trust seems more a facade than actual trust. Like, I got 4 approvals and his approval is already higher than any other companion I had at the same time or before. Too Sus. But we are talking about Astarion, not Gale. Let's not change this too much.

Hmm, I still think he lies if romanced. If he was sure Tav would still sleep with him, he should be open and told tav about everything before, and not after sleeping together. But like I said it's nice to see ppl defending characters they like. I may not like the companions, but I like that they bring ppl to defend or talk bad about them. better that than they being easily forgotten.

Astarion is one of my favorite companions, which surprised me because before I played the game he was one of my biggest hesitations for getting it. I really don't care for vampires and don't get the whole Twilight/ Zombie obsessions.

But he's a fun character. Don't take him out of the game.

I like all the origin characters. Would I like more companion options? Yes. Do I want them to remove any current ones? No.

What? No, no one is asking anyone to be removed. It's not a thing dw, and I doubt it would even be considered a possibility.

Definitely agree on this. Everyone has their own favourites and dislikes. Though I'd like for Larian to finally make the "mercenary" option available in-game, instead of the "start multiple instances of the game" method.

Due to his intro alone, he will never be a party member in any of my playthroughs. Until they change it so I'm not forcibly put into a weak position by him "getting the drop" (i'm forced to be an idiot) on me, I refuse to let him join. Other than that, he seems to be a pampered city vampire who thinks much too highly of himself.

I really don't like Astarion at all. He gives me bad Twilight/True Blood vibes and I hate, what those and similar books/movies did to the vampire genre. Plus, he tries to kill me in the beginning and I really don't care about his 'tragic' backstory, when he himself is just a selfish and evil asshole.
So yeah, he is my least favorite character.
The feeling is usually mutual in my playthroughs, since I like to play good characters and he hates my guts. I did kill him, send him away and give him to the Gur in different playthroughs. It was very satisfying.

And yes, I tried his romance, it was awful, didn't like it.

Depends on how you define "lying", I suppose, but if someone wants to team up with me to find a solution to a mutual problem, and the effort to find that solution is turning out to take more than just a few minutes, then I very much take it as a lie of omission if said person declines to tell me that at any moment there's a small risk, just a tiny little one, that the someone could turn into a nuclear bomb and vaporize everything and everyone around them. He might decide to share that information, but he also might not.

That said, he doesn't strike me as "nasty". But he certainly does deserve the title of jerk for being quite willing to be around others despite obviously being dangerous to his surroundings. If you have a big bomb strapped to you, it really isn't very nice to walk into a crowd of people, not even if you feel reasonably sure that the bomb isn't going to blow.

He's Fenris from DA2, just reverse. Selling him out to the guy in the swamp is the only reason why i'll always recruit him.

He's a chaotic evil murder-hobo. They're always going to be the most difficult kind of character to make believable, and I think a Vampire Spawn whose only reprieve came from being a Mind-Flayer experiment is a good enough way to approach it. He's like Gollum except his ring is a tadpole, and he can lie in complete sentences.

I like him as a character, I hate him as a person, if that makes sense.

Astarion's flamboyant personality is great.

It's the teenage vampire fiction part I can't stand. Vampires are supposed to be scary. The tadpole doesn't even begin to explain a daywalking vampire as a party member who has all the relevant perks conveniently suppressed. I don't even believe a tadpole would be able to function on a dead body. They ignored or bent all the rules just because someone thought it would be cool to have a vampire companion.

It's how casually the game introduces a vampire character into the party that rubs me the wrong way. It's nothing special, like a half-orc or something. Vampires are mundane and have feelings, too. The hell they are! Hexxat is dark and cool with a great introduction quest. Astarion is just haphazardly written and too human in comparison.

He's appearance is also way too obvious with the red eyes and fangs for people to continuously "not notice". He is "centuries old", yet somehow level 1. Every part, every small detail of him just seems to be off the mark.

And finally, a game where it's always sunny daytime, can never do a vampire character justice. Even if the daywalking would be perfectly explained, they are still creatures of the night. Astarion should not feel comfortable in sunlight but choose to be active after dark instead. For all he knows, he could lose the daywalking ability at any moment and be incinerated on the spot. He doesn't know how it works.

I don't think he would care if he burned up at this stage, he clearly views his new predicament as all or nothing.
Everyone's powers have been set to 1 with the tadpole, why? Don't know. As for working on an undead, it's an interesting question, but considering the Illithids operate using psionics, I'm willing to believe that sentience is the only bar.

I also would find it interesting if we learned that being experimented on changed our monster type, we could all be Aberrations at this point, which might explain why Astarion can walk in the day, but doesn't explain why he still takes damage from running water, is one a bodily reaction and the other a effect on the mind or soul(something he shouldn't have)? I don't think D&D goes to in depth in this vampire lore, but if anyone knows please share.
Of course it's probably protection from the same source that saves you when you fall out of the nautiloid

I feel like there's a very obvious reason for the way this was worded...

I for one adore Astarion, he's a sweetie, he's funny, and he's jaded to the world as a result of being a literal slave for 200 years. He has a taste of freedom and wants more, so yes he's selfish. Of all the companions so far he's the only one I would say actually *deserves* to be selfish. He doesn't care about the 'little people' because until he was captured by mindflayers he WAS one of the little people, and no one cared about him. I like the idea of softening him over time, giving him security and nurturing him, because he deserves it.

You don't take into account who he was before those 200 years. Larian actually spoiled his background when they were doing promo, and so far what is in the EA seems to fit that picture.

Again, like many things in this game right now, I think it's all about the execution. Astarion SEEMS like a twilight wannabe vampire spawn.

But that's because they don't let the MC see his true side. He seems fun and friendly and such, and he SAYS he doesn't feast on people. Hah! I'll wager we'll find out he's really just a lying scheming murderous backstabber in the end.

Maybe. 😌

Either way, I like him, even if I am leary of him.

I think with some companions you get to see more of them if you play evil (especially a Lloth drow). My first playthrough was with a standard good-aligned ranger, obviously.

About feeding on ppl, may not be so far from the truth, you can share wisdom and read his mind, and clearly sees that in his past he would only feed on vermin because is what his master would allow. I think my biggest issue is that they could have a real and threatening Vampire, one such would make the player really conflicted about having him around.

A charming and cunning one, manipulative and cold, friendly yet deadly, instead of the ridiculous wrestling thing, presenting himself in a noble and manipulative way. Instead, they went with the "Vegan" vampire so Twilight fans would love him. Sorry, this is how I see him.

This. You jumped me I kill you. And I thought I am the only one.