Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Our Petition for More Raphael Content/Romance

Dear Larian,


thank you for your hard work and willingness to listen to fan feedback. Few developers are in touch with their communities, and we are very grateful for these efforts.


Integrating Haarlep showed that you considered feedback received in Early Access requesting additional Raphael content, and while Haarlep is dear to the community and much appreciated, he is not the devil we know.


We adore and love Raphael and he has a very active, enthusiastic fandom and it is him we urgently want to romance.

Therefore, we are writing to you in the hope that you will give us a Raphael romance and some additional content, either implemented in the game or as a DLC. Most of us are willing to pay the full game price again to see this romance happen.


The core of the Raphael fandom even signed a petition for you to see that it's a wish of many. (We are at 420 signatures at the time I'm sending this.)
You can find it here: Our Petition


What we are hoping for in detail:


Added content in general:
- the option to spare him after the battle (no matter if romanced or not)
- the option to have him as a permanent member of the group like Halsin if we work with him
- his assistance in the final fight if we don’t betray him
- the option to visit the House of Hope without sneaking in if we sign the deal
- the dinner he promised us
- his appearance during the epilogue party

Romance specific:
- options to flirt with Raphael
- one or two camp scene(s) with him
- at least one romance scene with him (not Haarlep)
- the option to kiss him like the other companions once he’s romanced


Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our ideas.


Yours sincerely,

Sphinx (dmagedgoods on tumblr and twitter)
in the name of
a big group of Raphael-enjoyers

I mean, Raphael is a great written villain - he and Auntie Ethel are actually my favourite baddies.
But making him a companion or even a romance would take away a lot from that. Part of while he works so well is, that you never really know his motives. He pops up leave some tidbits of information, make maybe a small side deal ( like with Astarion in act 2) to show Tav/Durge they can trust him, and poofs away in red smoke again. That works well. If he would stand in our camp, pouring his heart out like all the companions - I can't see that working, that would take away a great bit from him.

And not every well written character needs to be a romance. In this case, he is a devil - where do you think, would that kind of romance lead exactly?

I would like an expansion of his act 3 storyline - maybe get him as an ally when making the deal. And there is a lot uncovered with his father Mephistopheles. We can cross dear old Mephisto more than once: with stopping Cazadors ritual, which would cost Mephisto 7000 souls, Durge has stolen the Crown of Karsus from Canias vaults ( which should be a story on its own tbh: how can two mortals do such a heist?). A Tav is about to let that crown rott, give it to Gale or give it to Raphael - Mephistopheles never even has a chance to get his stuff back.
So with that in mind, there could be a more pressing urge to deal with Mephistos wayward son and not make it just about the hammer.

I would much prefer that they work out the kinks in the existing romances, and ensure that they’re high quality, before they go spreading their resources around in this way.

I always want to flirt with Raphael. But as an enemy, not as an actual romance option.

Well, he can appear during the epilogue - and get snipped away as befitting.

I can see how the fling with him could be entertaining after seeing this video:



But then I remember watching the other one where Haarlep says he's not good in bed and we call Raphael out on it as a sick burn.

The man is too much in love with himself to romance anyone else, he sleeps with a copy of himself and even sings his own song during the battle with him. They would have to retcon him to make it work.

The existing romances need more polish, so if they ever decided to make this one a possibility I'd rather they first focused on enhancements of things that are already in the game.

The last thing the game needs is more romance, considering that everything else is barebones at best.

And as fylimar said, this would just dilute Raphael even more and make him worse.

I found the whole Haarlep thing totally over the top tbh. Just for the tidbit that Haarlep is a spy for Mephisto. I would rather have a bit more info on the fact that Durge and Gortash just walked into Cania and steal one of the most dangerous artefacts from one of the most dangerous archdevils and got away with it instead of some stupid incubus sex content (though the fight is not bad).

That and since I had a nice chat with dear Mol recently, I need more tea on that situation as well.

I would have liked some extra information about it too instead of that scene.

There isn't actually anything about Haarlep being a spy in the game- their corpse just says mephistopheles sent them to "distract his naughty son." Which just implies they were meant to keep Raphael occupied so he didn't do anything too ambitious. Nothing about spying (though I like it as a headcanon!)

Anyway as much as I love Raphael, I'm also fine not getting a romance with him. I like the flirty options that what we do get, but a direct romance would have changed the specific protagonist/antagonist dynamic they have a lot I think. I would have liked more content fleshing out the whole thing with Mol since Larian drops the ball hard on it and her storyline in Act 3. I also really want to hear more about Raphael and Gortash- it's weird how many references you can find to Gortash being sold as a child slave to Raphael, and they're two of the most important characters in the game, yet you can never discuss it with either of them, nor do they ever interact.

I thought, Haarlep admitted it one time , but it might just be me confused. He doesn't seem too loyal to Raphael, so I probably assumed.

Yes, the Mol situation needs bit more fleshing out imo. And the Gortash situation too. It would be nice, to have an option to play Raphael against Gortash or vice versa, when you get the information about their shared background.

Raphael seems to be a character, who has a lot of connections to the main story line ( even in the Shadowlands) and it is a bit weak that what they came up with , when he finally brings up a deal, is to give us the hammer for the crown. There are some lost opportunities here imo.

Well, Raphael is definitely one of the most interesting characters of the entire game (and the best villain imo).
I'd love more Raphael content, dlc or update, I'm definitely up for it. Honestly, I think some ideas on the list should be in the game already... such as the option to visit the House of Hope if you sign the deal with him and that victory dinner he promised us.

If we could get more dialogs and new scenes with him it'd be absolutely amazing, but making Raphael join of our team like Halsin or Minthara it's a big NO, it would only ruin his character and I'd never want that.

Although I can see room for flirting dialogues and a romance/fling with him. As a fling I see it being just like Mizora's, while as a romance it'd probably be a very toxic one that ends terribly bad, with MC losing their soul or becoming an asset in his conquest of the Hells.

He is a Cambion, not a full devil, so his human side could also mean he is able to love. And that he experiences strong emotions of all sorts, well, this much gets proven in the game. If his way of loving is obsessive and toxic? Nice, we didn't ask for something flowery. But if there is an interesting topic about him that only gets grazed, it's the struggle it must be to be half devil and half human.

Also, indeed, he is narcissistic and very focussed on himself, this doesn't mean his attention and interest can never wander to someone else (it actually did, in the past, as the game itself shows).

This list is not meant as a demand to ask of Larian to fulfill everything that's on there. It is a collection and polite suggestion of things people in the Raphael fandom would like to see, some of them necessary in my opinion (the option to spare him after the battle if we want to, visiting HoH when working with him), some of them as a very fitting addition to his arc and to what we already have with him (he does flirt with us, a lot even, why not give us the option to flirt back, why not the chance to kiss him when we can sleep with Mizora and a literal Mindflayer?), some of them just as ideas Larian could use or not, depending on if they think it would work for him (Raphael staying in the camp for a while and so on).

Yes, not every villain needs a romance, I agree. But some villains use the aspect of seduction already and no viallain in BG3 stronger than Raphael. We all want it in a way that doesn't take from his personality and how to do that in detail would be up to Larian entirely, should they decide to go for it. We merely collected ideas and wishes. Because it would be terribly easy to add a romance or something similar for Raphael, or just some flirting and a kiss, without even changing much about his quests, demeanor or storyline.

I would guess, Raphael has standards. Only he himself is good enough for him.

For him having those standards he is quite openly obsessed with Tav/Durge.

Because he wants a tiara from the player group. He's also obsessed with Hope and Mol. But that's all business, from what Haarlep says and his general choice of decoration, he's into himself more than anything.

This is a very flat interpretation of all his interactions with the player character. His words and demeanor suggest he has a weakness for Tav/Durge. He even admits he is fond of them "in his way", as he puts it.

Haarlep is by no means a reliable narrator, what makes him so interesting and this scene with him. If my father sent me a (probably) spying sex toy I would want them to think I'm only ever obsessed with myself too instead of giving away some truer (and more dangerous) desires.

He is a cambion, he has the potential to love. And, as I wrote above, his love being more on the obsessive side of things (like it was with Hope) doesn't take from the fact that it could lead to a highly interesting romance.

You made your point, you don't want a romance with him, but this thread is for suggesting why a romance with him would make sense and asking Larian for it and many, many people would give a lot to see it happen.Your interpretation of why he does what he's doing and his motives behind it differs from mine, and that's valid, but it's just this: an interpretation too.

Raphael and Auntie Ethel are my favourite villains in the game, but they are that - villains. Making any of them hang out in the camp would take away much from them. Mizora hanging out in the camp annoys me so much.
More content and more motivations for both would be nice. I still am sad, that the hag circle was scratched and I find Raphaels deal pretty weak. He tells us in act 1, that he can get rid of the tadpoles, but in act 3 , it's just about a tool to free a githyanki prince,we only ever be invested in, if we want to help Lae'zel. Otherwise it doesn't really matter and you can as well side with the emperor and be done with.
So I think, Raphael should makes us a different deal, otherwise doing the HoH heist is just so much better - you free sweet little Hope, you get the hammer and a lot of useful trinkets and an armor, that you can put on your mage user for maximal protection. Right now , killing Raphael and stealing everything not nailed down, is the best way to go about it.

And I mean, let Halsin be a warning. He was a cool character,when he was not supposed to be a companion and romance and now he is an annoying creep. Do you want the same thing to happen to Raphael? Right now, he is fan favourite, give him the Halsin treatment and that will change.