Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Clarity on exactly who can romance who in Baldur’s Gate 3

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.


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 ...

Custom character can romance Origin characters, the only reason they didn't mentioned is is because everyone already knew that. And Swen even clarified it's even possible to romance and marry as the dark urge as well. And there are options for romancing some non-origin characters but the only two known ones are Minthara and Halsin...you know him from the bear scene.

As I understand they don’t support romances between coop players, and NPCs won’t romance each other. That’s about it.

What about non-companion NPC's ? Like courtesans or any random NPC

No, not really.

Your list is just 3 times asking if the player can romance NPCs (yes, they can... it was quite obvious for at least 3 years now) and another 3 times if the player can romance another player, which we just got an anwser that no, they cannot.

We haven't heard anything about non-companion NPC romance so for the moment unless Larian says something to the contrary assume there are no such romances.
We do know of two non-origin party member NPCs who can be romanced: Minthara and Halsin, but they are companions.

If they didn't mention it, there still could be such encounters

From what they have been saying they're doing a lot more with romance in this game, they are having relationships that evolve and grow over the course of the game. So in terms of proper romance I really don't think there will be any with non-companion NPCs. They might have stuff like one off sexual encounters with such NPCs but not proper romances.

Thanks OP.

Like you, my question was prompted by wondering whether something not being stated explicitly means "yes it is possible" or "no it won't be possible." It could be either.

And just because something was a certain way all through EA doesn't automatically mean it will be that way in the final game given what Larian themselves have said about being willing to make last-minute changes. I'm going by what Larian officially says, and doesn't say, until such time as when players I trust post their actual experiences from the game in the future.

They are not removing romance options from custom characters lol. Swen literally talked about how even the Dark Urge could have a romance and get married.

There is literally nothing hidden here, they were just answering questions about origin romances specifically because people wanted to know if Origin companions might hook up if you don't romance them(no, not unless another player is playing one of them) and that sort of stuff. That's why they didn't re-confirm everything. But in terms of romance companions in relation to custom characters and such as you knew this stuff to be working in early access, that hasn't changed.

Doesn't Larian classify The Durge as an Origin character, not a custom character though? So it would specifically fall into the "A played Origin can romance an NPC Origin" category.

I'm not necessarily claiming that custom character romance will be removed from the game, just noting that The Durge isn't evidence for it remaining.

You are entirely missing the point here. The Dark Urge is literally just Tav plus some psycho actions on top. Literally just that...a custom character plus an extra murder option added here and there. They did not remove out romance options from custom characters.

Custom Tav is considered an Origin. The custom origin.


The confusion arouse when some addled forum member read too much into this

This was quickly redacted (not from the emailed version though) and replaced with the "least romantic way" of puting it. If they'd put it in terms of the player, instead of the Origin, I don't think we'd have to clarify further.

But... NPCs do sort of romance each other? We all know what happens at the party, and there's flirtatious party banter on top of that.

That was early access...it might have been a planned feature that just got cut or it could simply be no more than that...banter. At any rate they have now confirmed that in the full game that NPC origin characters cannot romance each other...only players can actually initiate and advance romances with party members.

Karlach is a third non-Origin NPC that can be romanced (they literally showed video of them on a date). That is assuming you don't cut her head off.

Karlach is an Origin character.

Okay, so... you CAN romance an NPC Origin character as a PC Custom or Origin, but they won't initiate anything if you play as a particular Origin. I hope I got that right.

I'm pretty sure there is a difference between flirtatious banter and a romance story arc.

I will also point out that an NPC Tav/custom character is clearly not going to be romanceble, since what you have to do to romance a character depends upon their personality, and a custom character, by definition, has no pre-set personality beyond what a player gives them.

It's as simple as this.