I'm splitting this into a new thread because I feel it's straying a bit too far from the topic of the
inevitable romance poll thread, which is about what characters will be sought after for romances.
In the most recent community update it says the following:
To offer further clarity on exactly who can romance who in Baldur’s Gate 3, we’ve laid it out in the least romantic way possible, below:
- A played Origin can romance an NPC Origin
- An NPC Origin cannot romance an NPC Origin
- Played Origins cannot romance other player Origins
Seems pretty clear that (a) only the Origin companions can be romanced, and (b) only by another played Origin. This would imply that custom PCs cannot engage in romances. Is this correct?
Most likely no.
There are 4 types of characters to consider : PC Origin Character, PC Custom Chararacter, NPC Origin Characters, NPC Non-Origin Companions.
Larian's description of who can or cannot romance who leaves out plenty of cases. Notably :
- PC Custom Chararacter romancing an NPC Origin Characters
- PC Origin Character romancing an NPC Non-Origin Character
- PC Custom Character romancing an NPC Non-Origin Character
- PC Origin Character romancing a PC Custom Character
- PC Custom Character romancing a PC Custom Character
- PC Custom Character romancing a PC Origin Character
I would not presume that the romances which are left undescribed can be assumed to be not possible. For instance, a PC Origin Character romancing an NPC Origin Character is possible since we know that, when playing as Astarion, we can romance Halsin (2nd bullet point). So for your question (1st bullet point), we can't assume either that it is not possible.
That said, I don't think we can presume that the romances which are left undescribed can be assumed to be possible. For instance, I would bet that a PC Custom Character cannot romance a PC Origin Character.
Apparently Larian is having difficulties communicating clearly even when they are trying to make things clear ...