The thing is though, why would you change this specific detail the way Larian has?
I think you are looking at it from wrong side ...
Its not like i would take all Vampire rules and start striking out wich dont suits me.
(Feel free to ignore this sentence if that is not what you were implying ... but it seemed like it a little.)
Imagining myself in Larian boots ...
I see it more like brainstorming:
Person A: "So, we have this situation where Astarion is caught trying to drink from our protagonsit ..."
Person B: "People were complaining a lot about first scene where they meet Astarion, that they dont have any chance to attack him right there on the spot."
Person A: "I see ... maybe we can do something about it here, they are clearly threatened by him again, lets not repeat the same mistake."
Person B: "Well, they are laying next to the bonfire ... how about give them option to grab one branch, snap it to make it sharp, and stake him?"
Person A: "Wouldnt that kill him instantly?"
Person B: "Yup."
Person A: "Hells, why not i like it ... make it happen."
All im saying is that im quite allright with such attitude.
They've buffed him in numerous ways and took away numerous weaknesses already
Both were done just to make him "regular" adventurer ...
Just as with Drow who dont have sunlight sensitivity ...
This seems like pure ballance adjustment.
and taken away an aspect that's specific to the lore.
Well ... i gues you could call it covenience.
Astarion would most likely *never* (or at least not until the end of his story) return to his lair, wich would make him basicaly unstakeable.
In my opinion this opourtunity for roleplay solution was simply too good to be bothered with litteral trascription of rules ...
And while Niara and some other may see it as blasphemy, im honestly glad they decided to allow us to do this ...
Maybe its just bcs i dont have DnD rules so deep under my skin as some others around here, since im still newbie, i play actively just around a year and half ... but my DM (GM, PJ, dunno how you call it) is that kind of person who is often willing to close an eye an ignore part of the rule, IF he likes the idea players get, and the idea makes sense in some common therm of settings.
So im used to this, i like it, and im having lots of fun thanks to that.
There's a lot of stuff that's explained by the tadpole, but not this.
Yeah, never seen anyone claim it is tho.
In this case of the stake, they just actually took away something interesting and unique about the setting.
I dont think this is true ...
Nobody say that you "cant" stake Vampire while sleeping inside his lair ... and it would certainly be much smarter approach than going with wooden stake to open battle (
) ...
This was just opourtunity, and they decided to allow it ... i dont think there is anything deeper behind it.
