Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Astarion romance improvements

I definitely think there are some room for improvement for the Spawn romance path, one thing that definitely feels out of place is being romanced to him and not reacting to his character burning and having to run away. I was excited hearing about the better companion reactions to the dock scene but it looks like you only see the companions have more sympathetic reactions? You don't have any reaction at all from your player character which feels weird. I think the dock scene is a bit complicated though because you have so much going on with all the characters, especially with Karlach. I'm not sure what the best way would be to have your character run after him whilst also dealing with the other companions.

I know there is a mod on Nexus that reverts the AA kisses back to the patch 6 expressions, I'm not sure if a console version exists, though.

Although he may show some possessive traits, he's also immortal (and so is your character) so I think a lot of him allowing your character to leave with Karlach is him being patient in the fact that you both have an eternity together. Based on the conversation, he doesn't see you as being "gone forever", but will eventually return back to his side to rule together.

I’ve been lurking on this thread for some days now and just wanted to give my two cents. I hope I’m not coming off as attacking anyone‘s narrative, I just want to express my thoughts. There are currently two threads both discussing Astarions romance I hope it’s okay if I post it on both as it has to do with both threads.

Just some background, not particularly pertaining to this thread but i thought I might as well just add it here


So personally I think AA romance should remain just the way it is now and nothing should change. The only thing I do agree on though, is that there should also be a choice how his partner reacts to the kisses, just to round out the HC options. To be clear, I don’t mean they should change the kiss animations! The kisses are great, awesome, even. I love them very much. I mean only the facial expressions on his partner. Of course, if you HC a bride or groom, they should smile. And if you HC a spawn partner they could also smile, but could also not smile. Myself, I think a bride or groom can also NOT smile, but I doubt that is something anyone would actually HC, I’m just saying both facial expressions could be used for various HCs. Plus, I think with this option that would let you choose the facial expressions for his partner, it would actually even help with the roleplay and kind of…support(?) or make the feeling of the kisses stronger(?). What I mean is: so AA kisses his partner and after that first kiss after being turned into a vampire, his partner can either express even more support for the relationship or be a little taken aback by the kiss and uncomfortable. Honestly I think expressing the want and desire for the kisses that AA offers is something good and encouraging for him to continue since his partner likes it. On the other hand, when his partner is uncomfortable, they still ask for the kiss themselves so there is no „no consent“ notion in this at all. All of it is always consensual of course. I just think it adds a lot more roleplay aspects and I think that is the most important part.

What I want to say with this in general, I don’t think any changes should be made to AA‘s romance except for maybe the facial expressions. I think it’s already incredibly in-depth and offers the most options for HC out of all companions.

As for UA, I agree with other comments that there should be more added, only to even it out. Not make MORE for UA, just even. one more kiss at least. I don’t know how possibly they could implement running after UA on the docks. There is no way to push him running away off, because with the tadpole gone there is only so much time he has until the effects wear off. At the latest it should wear off at the same time as Karlach begins to burn up and then you’d have to choose between running after him and helping her, which is not nice. Personally I think it’s okay that his partner doesnt run after him, I think he’d also understand that Karlach dying is probably a more dire matter in that moment. As friends in the epilogue he says he felt ashamed to be seen like that and he didn’t even seek out his friend. The first time they meet after that is the party. so maybe it’s okay to let him have a moment to himself. I’m sure his partner finds him as soon as they can.

For the dock scene, I think if the player runs after Astarion, then Wyll can choose to go with Karlach to Avernus if he's Blade of Avernus. He already choose it by himself now, if I recall. So Larian could just keep his agency there. That or Larian could push Astarion's scene to be after Karlach's. It stretches believability, but it's already hard to believe that all of these scenes are playing one after another on the docks. I think we could stretch believability a little more for one of the most requested changes by Spawn Astarion fans.


It's great that there's a mod, but yes, it isn't on console. And there was a happy expression mod already, but people still asked for happy faces in the game. Similarly, I want the old faces officially restored as an option.


I personally think AA turns Tav/Durge because he's afraid to lose them, so letting them leave with Karlach would bring that fear up again in him. What if Tav/Durge just never returned? He could lose his favorite person. But I see where your interpretation is coming from.

Regarding the nonexistent (missing as of Patches 5, 6, and 7) epilogue hug/kiss for Ascended Astarion:

100%. That would have been great if he gave a flirtatious response at least, even if we couldn't kiss/hug him there.

I agree, it still feels very neglectful and unfinished for AA to be the *only* romanced companion that you can't officially kiss or hug in the epilogue.
A romantic interaction option (hug/kiss) SHOULD still be added for Ascended Astarion in the epilogue.

Btw, I strongly disagree with some people saying that AA has gotten a lot of changes. If he got any big changes, other than bug fixes or facial animations that other characters also got, I haven't seen them. His kisses haven't changed, so no extra animation work was done on them. If we want to talk about changes that were made and new things that were added, Shadowheart (whose content is definitely not lacking compared to the others) received some new, voiced camp scenes with Scratch. She also has the reaction when sitting on her stool at her tent. I'm not complaining about SH having this cool extra content – it's great and I wish everyone could have the same – but I hate to see misinformation being spread about AA's content.

Thank you for these! There's quite a bit of dialogue for AA about him and his consort "in each other's arms." That doesn't sound to me like he doesn't want to be touched, at least not when it comes to his beloved.

"...we live lives eternal, in each other's arms..."
"...spend a decade in each other's arms..."
"...you shall watch the stars collapse in the heavens, in each other's arms..."

I also love the hand-holding scene at the end!

I also fully support this. <3 Let Tav/Durge kiss AA on the hand, that would be very sweet and allows the MC to demonstrate their devotion to him as his eternal love.

I'm really enjoying my playthrough and Astarions romance, so I feel pretty happy with where it is at right now. But I would not be mad if they added some sort of romance interaction in the epilogue.


I would perhaps like it more if it was Astarion doing it to Tav, as a reference to the nibble during the night of the turning. But it would really depend on how Larian did it. A great idea non the less!

Maybe I missed it, but I only saw one person saying that AA got a lot of changes here, not multiple. Also, Tav/Durge's facial animations were changed from the original during his kisses. So extra animation work was in fact done on them. If we're talking about AA in general (not sure if you were, but since you started talking about Shadowheart it made me think it was general): he also got a whole new animated evil ending too which is a change.

I do agree that it's actually Shadowheart who usually gets extra content above others during the patches, not Astarion. But since AA has more content than spawn Astarion already, I want to see Larian add to the spawn romance before they add more to AA. I found AA's romanced epilogue satisfying already, and don't see the need to add more to it. If Larian was going to add to AA's romance, I want to see them polish up spawn Tav/Durge (as described in another thread) to make it seem more finished. After polishing up spawn/UA Astarion to make his path equal in content to AA, of course.

There is no evil ending that is specific to AA only, each companion got a unique evil ending (when playing as their origin). Astarions is the same regardless of if you ascend or remain spawn.

I assume Yume means that you can only keep your romance with AA or Minthara in the Absolute ending, so he got a new scene.

Yes, thank you. Sorry it was not clear. 'Scene' is better wording for what I meant. Let's go back to Astarion romance improvements.

although i do love the suggestions of AA having a kiss, hug or even him suggesting something intimate in the epilogue I agree that larian at least in the new patch whenever it comes out, if they will ever come out with one should focus on equaling out content between AA & UA. At least with kisses and asking "what are we to you". But overall I think both sides need something better for the epilogue, I'm not much of a fan being able to talk to shadowheart and halsin for 20 minutes but only speaking to my LI for maybe 5 minutes tops? Just feels very incomplete. Also I'm huge on suggesting a new kiss for the last kiss before the netherbrain, its weird that only halsin, gale and minthy get one (i dont remember if anyone else gets one).

What's the issue with the "What are we to you?" topic now? It seems to be fairly normal that the companions only have one answer to that at a time, isn't it?

Post-ritual spawn has one response to the "what are we to you?" question, whilst AA has 4 different potential responses. I think people just want it to be equal between the two.

Probably, but AA is a special case in this regard, isn't he? Just like Gale is a special case in that for him the question is non-repeatable, you can inquire about how he's holding up instead. I find it more bothersome that the only other dialogue topic UA gets is one I can't ever click, the stupid "I will always protect you" line.

I'd be happy with either version for AA's epilogue kiss! Would never turn down AA kissing Tav/Durge's hand as a callback to the turning night. I loved that scene.


Re the "What are we to you" question, do the other companions only have one answer/line for that?

From a quick look at Lae'zel and Gales files, I believe they still only get "one response" but that response will be different based on different circumstances (flags set). So it looks like Gale has two different responses, depending on if he's set on the path of wanting the crown or not. Lae'zel has a different response based on the path she's set on + how far you are in her romance (in regards to finishing certain act rom scenes).

I'm not too sure about the other companions if any of them have multiple responses the same way AA does.

Ah, thank you for looking that up! Maybe it is just a special case for AA. potentially

Yeah! What Kurophina said UA has one response while AA has 4, he may be a special case which is fine but I feel like UA can have 2 then. But this is just my entire opinion lol. I didn't realize other companions only had one lol (i have never romanced anyone but astarion) but I want even content between the two sides of Astarion.

Could we avoid calling things that we simply don't like "fanservice"? Almost as if we wanted to belittle those additions?
For me this scene does not go against AA's character. I think AA has no problem letting TAV make this choice because, as it turns out in the choices in the dialogues, TAV may not express the intention to end the relationship. The fact that AA is possessive does not mean that he does not let TAV make their choices, as long as these do not concern a break up.
AA in any case is calm and secure because if TAV apologizes to him for having disappeared, it means that they will then return to him; if instead they do not, in any case they have an unbreakable bond, he has power and could call TAV back to him whenever he wants.
The scene you're talking about had already been in the game files for many months, even before the release of patch 7. The dialogues and voices of that scene were already in the game files of patch 6, which means that, probably, it was conceived and written when the authors of Astarion were still working at Larian.


Exactly this!



Oh! I also like so much this idea!

Yes the "I will protect you" line just hangs in there like any other dialogue option you don't intend to take, be it breaking up or convincing your buddies to digest/commune with tadpoles. The later annoys me most of all because, while it is handled as a neutral conversation in some cases, in others the dialogue seems to assume you want to talk your companions into taking the squid. I would really like to get rid of these lines.

I see the select lines mostly as things that are in some way to convey the characters' personality, a bit tongue in cheek because quite a few break the fourth wall. (Some of them should probably be ditched on certain character routes.) Having the dude who tries to hit on your character through most of act 1 express, that he really wants you to keep your paws to yourself, is an interesting detail. I don't think that's something that becomes miraculously void within a romance though. Mainly because Astarion says he finds any kind of intimacy difficult even if it's with the player-character. The game isn't very explicit about the details (apart from Lae'zel's comment) so you can probably headcanon it however you like. But from my perspective, it's a jump to assume that, just because of "love" tm, someone is suddenly extremely into all kinds of physical affection in all situations. I wished they had kept that "You didn't have to ask ... " line in for the first kiss after the act 2 scene. It's a bit much for repeated dialogue but it would have been nice as a one time situation.

My thought was more that the lack of physical interactions with AA during the epilogue matches with how he keeps the player character at a distance during his kisses. No intention of keeping you all from asking for your dream epilogue.

I like simply asking him how he wants to continue best in the act 2 scene, btw. Opening your mind would be very nice, if it had been handled in a more atmospheric way.

My thoughts as well hence why I don’t understand why we need any kisses or hugs in the epilogue with him. Every epilogue I’ve had with AA felt good and true to character. During the kisses in the game, he is always in control and doesn’t let his partner go “too far” when they reach out for another kiss again. Personal HC is that he just likes this appearance in public. Of course you can (I do) HC that he is different behind closed doors. But since the epilogue is again in a public setting, I imagine appearances would be very important to him there.