Honestly, I' d better have another backstory other than a vampire myself - was never interested in that creature type much.
My characters have less dramatic backstories, too
But I need to give credit to the character's personality and the VA does an amazing job. I think that making him a high elf like you've suggested wouldn't rob the players of anything, for example the bite scene could be replaced with an attempt to rob you or kill you and could be even more tense.
I agree, Neil Newbon does an amazing job, he seems to have had a lot of fun playing this character. I think all of the voice actors are
very good, the acting is one of my favourite parts of the game.
Due to his personality, I think Astarion's character would be just as interesting if he were a regular high elf rogue. The vampire aspect is not what makes him an interesting character for me, but his backstory as a vampire might add something very interesting.
I don't think Cazador just coincidentally found him, almost dead, I think they knew each other before that. Astarion says he was working as a magistrate in Baldur's Gate, and maybe they had some shady dealings involving prisoners (this could explain why the group of Gur were so furious with him that they beat him up to the brink of death). Ironically, Astarion then ended up as a slave to Cazador himself.
Learning about his past could present our character with an interesting moral dilemma, especially if our Tav has a friendly or even romantic relationship with him. He had been Cazador's victim in the past 200 years, but he had also been a perpetrator before (if this were indeed his backstory).
Since he seems to remember little about his past, this could be a bit comparable to Shadowheart's mind-wipe, although maybe inversed: I think Shadowheart might have been a Selûnite, and has forgotten a "good" past, Astarion has forgotten an "evil" past (though as for being "nice" now, there's still some room for improvement
).
This is of course just (wild) speculation on my part, based on the snippets of information we got so far. Maybe it's completely different - I am curious to find out.
Up until then, I give Larian the benefit of the doubt that Astarion is not just a Hot-Dark-Vampire-Guy. But even if he is, I think he is at least an entertaining one
