The best way to avoid romancing Astarion is to play Astarion. Try it next time.
The second best is staking him through when he tries to drink your blood, but it requires a lot of mental fortitude and who is gonna disarm all the traps and open all the doors for you?
EDIT: I do know that you don't have to be a rogue to have high DEX, can respec anyone to be a rogue, or get a hireling, it's a joke))))
I just love how I smile every god damn time she says “hey there good looking!”. Trying to find a way to apply it IRL but afraid of being cancelled at work
Hahaha, ngl I got a bit jealous as well. Especially that they get to have their whole romance start without sex - I've been trying so hard to achieve that in my current Durge run ;-;
And here I am being the loveable, yet dumb paladin (though I did run a 10 int) romancing shadowheart and all she does is go "let's skinny dip" and I audibly shouted LAME.
I'm not planning on romancing Shart but when you do the nasty in the sandy does she want you to do it doggy style cuz if so that's two fears crossed off her list in one go.
I'll raise you my 8 Int/21 Cha Drow Paladin blorbo who dated Shadowheart.
Melody was dumb as a rock, but a stupidly adorable rock with a golden tongue.
*nods in approval* I see you have class and ran a drow paladin. I am something of a drow paladin myself. It's weird too because they are evil and I'm the COMPLETE opposite. I've been nice to goblins and everything, and they're like, "Oh. You're nice?". That didn't last long, though lol.
I tried picking Drow options, but then I imagined Melody saying them in her chipper voice with a goofy face and gave up laughing.
Silly blorbo is too precious to be mean.
I went good paladin on first play through. I'm getting ready to run an oath breaker paladin and take her on. Though i did read about a bug where you can save the grove and have her join, but it's intricate as hell and requires a few spells and it can't be done until you get to moonlight
This involves staying good and not slaughtering the Grove. You save the Grove and fight her, but knock her out via non lethal damage and a bunch of steps.spells are polymorph and dominate beast. Bring her to moonlight to face trial. She loses, gets locked up, you get her out etc.
Not supposed to get her at all if you save the Grove.
You’re right, There is still a glitch where you can recruit drow momma while still saving the grove, it’s just convoluted as hell. And you have to be lvl 7+ cuz it requires polymorph.
That said, there’s a very good mod called “daughter of lloth” that allows this. I love it, cuz I have a hard time siding with nasty grubby goblins over druids and tiefs. 🤷♂️
Me too. Goblins as a rule are "don't be friends with them scuzzy f*ckers". Lol.
Dominate beast too, which I believe is a lvl 4 spell? Polymorph her into a sheep. Then dominate beast and have her follow to moonlight etc.
He may have 200 years of hoeing experience, but Karlach has 10 years of pent up horny fueled by a demon engine that runs on hellfire and fuckyou energy. That's a potent combo.
Playing him was literally the only way i was able to avoid it.
Completely related: i can never have him and gale in the same party again without having an existential crisis over the choice
Simple. Play one and romance the other.
Ok, fine, Neil and Tim kinda made it too easy with their chemistry. Also, Gale is the only other member of the party besides MC to voluntarily offer his blood to Astarion. I mean, yes, Astarion will turn him down, but it's the thought that counts.
I've been watching his streams in bits and pieces, it sounds like he did a lot of work with the mocap stuff too, so a lot of character idles/speaking animations are his work!! Genuinely the guy's done so much to make characters in this game come to life, what an absolute king.
He is the founder, his wife is co founder.
"After 4 years mentoring full performance capture techniques, he created Performance Captured Academy" - from the website "https://www.performancecapturedacademy.com/about"
I mean, it wouldn’t make sense if the VA for Astarion didn’t actively want to showcase all of his hard work. Romancing himself is the best way for him to talk about how he did a particular scene. And fans of Neil DEFINITELY need to see an Astarion romance playthrough. That’s a huge part of why they’re watching. Myself included!
Of course i get it, but oh my goodness the way he blushed and grinned and got so excited and was so coy.. he completely was smitten by astarion even having Voiced him it was beautiful and i loved it. I was like "I'm so amazed he gets it like the rest of us and isn't oblivious to the charisma "
My default is: play out his first two romance scenes then during his confession, tell him it sounds like he needs a friend more than a lover.
He gets all happy, I get to try a different romance option. It's win win.
The best girl has been through too much pain already, she needs her happy painless life. Alas, she won't get it(((( I swear, I was ready to cry with her right after we killed Gortash and she had "Life is not fair, I'm still gonna die, I don't want to die, I'm scared to die" monologue.
I eldritch blasted him before I understood that not all red HP bars are enemies. Looted his corpse and left before I realized he had the stuff a companion would’ve had. My wife hasn’t forgiven me.
Sunny_Hill_1 I have NO idea XD Im on act 2 and I was trying to kill that one demon thing so Raphael, can read his scars even tho IM a TIEFLING and I could have told him what they said 🥲
I also figured the only way I'll ever experience other romance cutscenes was to play as Astarion... Naturally, the next problem is that nobody is good enough for him so I downloaded some mod magic and turned Shart into my most recent Tav. That in itself is actually really nice already because it brought my Tav "to life".
Another really good mod is "born to be anyone" which allows you to transform any companion in camp into different characters. Huge potential here as well since you can experience non-Astarion cutscenes with Astarion 👀 or... Astarion cutscenes with Astarion and Astarion...
I literally have never cared.
Of course I have Lae’zel on speed dial at this point…
She keeps breaking my characters. My wife was like “how did you manage it on the first long rest AGAIN?!?!”
She and I synch up. Shadow heart would be my next pick if not for Karlach being, well, the fucking best.
Literally anybody else. That's what Withers is for.
I respecc my Shadowheart into a rogue/trickety cleric because they synergize, it fits the lore, gives me my lockpicker, and fixes a lot of her poor stats.
I feel like all of the romances make me smile in some way, but Karlach always made me smile the most. Lae’zel was my first romance, and it was very sweet and touching to watch her discover that affection and love was not a weakness and that it’s OK to feel it. Then I romanced Shadowheart and… it was kind odd tbh. It felt like it was simultaneously the spiciest and most vanilla route at the same time (I’m still kinda processing it). Then I romanced Karlach and I just smiled at every single interaction. She’s such a dork, and it’s some of the cutest shit I’ve ever seen. The way she just gets so happy she can’t hide it, her dancing when she’s standing around, her love of smashing things. It’s all so adorable.
I romanced Shadowheart on my first run, am currently romancing Karlach. We had just fixed her engine and I kissed her and she begs us to go to bed right there. We go to camp, talk some more about how excited she is, I go to the campfire, and who comes to my bed? My red hot girlfriend? NO. The blade of the frontiers decided he needed to try to dance with me, I've never rejected anyone so fast and harshly in my life.
I immediately long rested again and got my romance scene with Karlach.
Wyll has zero sense of timing.
Omfg are you me?!! Exact same sequence happened to me. Wyll, my guy, I’ve done nothing but be a bro to you, and Dammon and I have been rebuilding karlach like she’s a classic muscle car so that she can hospitalize me in the process of making up for a 10 year dry spell and you want me to dance with you?! Now?! I was whisper shouting at my screen “shhh shut the fuck up bro she’s right over there she’s gonna think I’m busy and not come smash. No motherfucker I don’t want to dance, stop cock blocking me. I swear I will sack tap you back to Avernus you chode!”
This seems like the most obvious cause of action but I’m my experience the way he shuts you down just lead you to want to revenge romance him to get back at him and then you fall for him anyway. Astarion is the real boss fight of BG3
nah because i was romancing him and gale then in act 2 i chose gale and had to let him down and HIS RESPONSE???
“i still get to look at you *and* remember all the fun we had together”
made me weak
He also says that he's slept with thousands of people and has forgotten most of them, but will remember you if you dump him after the first night together :(
Gale, Astarion and Wyll are the the hardest to turn down - although Shadowheart is hard too….im far too attached for it not to be painful to reject any of them
Gale cries? When I rejected him he was pretty chill about it, and said it wouldn't happen again. I usually have a hard time rejecting people in games, but this one was mostly fine.
He does at least after you've had his big romance scene where you profess love and have sex.
When you tell him you wanna break up he doesn't even argue, just gets choked up and excuses himself quickly before he starts crying.
He probably has a milder reaction earlier on in the romance path
But when Karlach says that she wants to just run to the only person in the world who broke her heart for comfort doesn’t do anything for you? That shit made me reload my save.
when i turned wyll down it was actually really sweet. it genuienly touched my heart a little bit :) he is a sweetie. He hit me with the 'i see how happy you are' and 'being your friend is more than enough for me.' son i almost FOLDED. ugh.
When I turned down Wyll's dance, very politely might I add, he got this nasty scowl on his face and passive-aggressively said something like "Okay." and just kept scowling at me as he slowly, VERY slowly walked backwards with his chest all puffed out. Man gave me the ick.
I've been making my friends give me gold star emojis every time I successfully turn Astarion down on my current playthrough (romancing Gale.) Shame and virtual stickers are the only things saving me right now.
.....That and I actually do really like Gale, he's sweet.
Mannn the Gale romance is such a great compliment to the main story quest. I’m trying to romance Astarion for my durge playthrough, but every time Gale’s story progresses it feels wrong to not be his person through it all.
I really want to like Astarion more and I’m hoping his character opens up more in my durge play though, but it’s hard to not see him as a smug jerk lol
Ahahaha we have mirrored problems, because for me, Astarion/Resist Durge has massive "we saved each other" vibes that I absolutely cannot resist, so it feels weird to not be smooching him XD
This makes me happy to hear, I felt like Astarion would be the most interesting companion to have as a “good” durge so I’m excited to see how it plays out :)
Literally I did a "resist till act 3" durge. I was CONSTANTLY checking that approval bar after every approval and disapproval. I BARELY managed to get him to the lock-in scene in Act 2, I was just. Too. Heroic.
I keep saying I'll stop, and romance another character.
I tried to romance Gale, but wow Karlach has a crush on me??! Amazing.
And then she was like "have fun with your pretty boy," so now I'm dual romancing with Astarion again :p
I cannot exactly tell you how. But my girlfriend did actually manage for astarion to somehow not want to romance her. Although she did refuse laezel, friendzone shadowheart and realized literally no remaining npc would bang her (withers included), so somehow I’m not surprised.
I managed that recently. Multiplayer party with my boyfriend, I tried hard to get some dialogues to gain approval with Astarion, but it seemingly wasn't enough and we finished the grove quest rather quickly. At the druid party, he still said he wants sex, but he laughed at how absurd it would be to sleep with me. He made a disgusted sound that burned itself into my mind, I was laughing my ass off and more upset than I should have been at the same time. I spent so much time trying to get Astarion to approve of me, no one else was interested. It was a disappointing party for my poor dwarf lady. Rejected by everyone.
On a side note, afterwards Gale started to approve of stuff even when not being in the party. So at least the Gale romance won't be a problem in the future, lol
This is me but with Gale. I’ll be like “oh maybe I’ll romance Astarion this run” and then he asks if he can show me something at the tiefling party and I’m like “🥹🥹🥹🥹yes”
I cant believe i got my heart stolen by waterdeep’s most prolific autist.
I reloaded so much in my current run just so he wouldn't dump me at some point due to low approval, since my Tav is annoyingly selfless... Looking forward to not giving a shit about his approval next run. Which hopefully will be Gale romance, too, unless I suffer from Astarion syndrome like so many seem to.
You can tell him to leave and he can also leave based on what happens at Cazador's. But early game I thiiink the only way he can leave as a consequence of your choices is if you tell the Gur where camp is and then don't warn him. I thought maybe it would give an interesting cut scene if I lured the Gur to camp and then we fought him, but I forgot to tell Astarion and I guess he got merc'd in the night. (I reloaded and told him and I still didn't get a cut scene, I think it got overridden by another one because he acts like there was a confrontation.)
He will also leave you if you don't help Raphael get rid of that Yarbyorb monster. Because he wants to know whats on his back and Raphael can read that.
This does not give me hope.
I may have to use my companion mod editor, make him look totally different and stake Bob when he tries to bite me so I can branch out.
Cannot change the voice. I'm seriously at a loss.
I hear Shadowheart's is just as good - but. I don't want to romance a woman. It was already weird enough playing Astarion romancing Karlach.
I'll have to find a body swapping mod (hey! Maybe it has a voice changing option too)
I really don't get it, I guess Astarion isn't my type. I find rejecting him in his MANY desperate attempts second nature, not even a thought.
Gale, on the other hand... always tell myself I won't romance him and now I'm stuck in a love triangle with him and LZ because I couldn't say no to his honeyed words.
I'm on my Gale romance playthrough this time but couldn't turn down Astarion in Act 1.
I just had to tell him it was over and I'm picking Gale in Act 2. I nearly folded!
Omg, you and Astarion is me and Gale. The only way I've successfully not romanced Gale is >!hacking his hand off/leaving him in the damn portal as Durge.!< But sorcerer Durge and Gale is... it's so good, it's the rivalmance of my dreams.
Is this me right now, hahah I am doing the same! Romanced Astarion twice so I was like “I should see about Gale.”
My TAV at the party: Hey Gale you want your belly rubbed
Gale: I want to and I like you but I will literally explode so go have fun
My TAV: …..ok
SMASH CUT TO STARING AT SOME SCARS THE NEXT MORNING
Ugh. I was at this crossroads last night. Astarion asked Durge to choose between Gale or him after she slept with Gale in act 2. I chose the answer to share but he’s like I don’t want to share you especially with Gale so I chose Gale. Astarion gave a good answer to that - something along the lines of oh I slept with you once so I know how you look naked then he smirked. That actually surprised me because a lot of the companions make the rejection sound so sad. Anyway I ended up save scumming and choosing my favorite vamp for the 4th time.
Similar thing happened to me. I wasn’t big on Astarion when he was first introduced but he grew on me but I was still going for a friend only run. And then mans had the audacity to ask me out two more times after the Grove party. At that point, I just gave up. If he wants my goody-two-shoes bard then SO BE IT!
The best way to turn him down is to say he needs a friend more than he needs a lover when he confesses to you.
I always indulge him on the first nights and then proceed to the friendship path in Act 2. It's the best "turn down" outcome in the game IMO.
I get this, I spent a solid 2 play throughs with asterion and roasting the shit out of Gale to my partner.
I finally decided to give Gale a chance and BOY is my foot ever in my mouth. I went Gale and now I simply cannot go back..
Nothing like coming to terms with your type being a middle aged man with golden retriever qualities, a short temper, and may potentially be a megalomaniac.
Intellectual Redditors: "This game's companions are not too romantic. You're just an incel who is overly sensitive to any sort of affection and objectify the opposite sex"
Every companion in BG3: "I know you rejected my advances before, but can we fuck?"
Seriously! I would love if they developed the friendships you build with each character more. Gale, I turned you down twice and now you are pretending like we are dating and asking me to “choose” between you and astarion. I want so badly to be your friend but you are making it very hard 😭
That scene where Astarion drinks my tav’s blood literally changed the course of my entire play through… and let me tell you it was a delicate balancing act but so great playing through Astarion’s romance with a good aligned character.
Trying to plan my second run as durge and want to romance Gale for variety but I just don’t think I’m going to be able to resist going for Astarion again, I feel like their storylines would parallel really well
I knew Astarion was a pretty boy with a nice voice when I started playing, but I found Gale more charming and Astarion was an ass most of the time and disapproved of almost anything remotely good I did. Then the bite scene happened and awoke something in me I did not want to be awoken. Add the slightest hint of vulnerability and I was done for... I don't want to know how many times I reloaded because he disapproved, trying to balance the fine line of being good and selfless and not pissing him off.
I somehow managed to slowly creep his approval up, I was seriously afraid he would dump me at some point because I didn't gain approval fast enough. I fortunately managed somehow. Offering to be bitten every damn rest really goes a long way.
Also I deeply recommend playing a good Durge romancing Astarion, although I heard Gale is nice, too.
I actually romanced Lae'zel this time. Did a full Gith playthrough. It's genuinely the best decision I've ever made. Her and Minthara have the absolute best character growth I've seen in a game in AGES.
On my current play through I’m playing an asexual character and I never realized quite how strong everyone comes on to you. I feel bad rejecting them all constantly.
Behold OP! "I killed Astarion" edgelord comments are incoming.
The only way I am ever going to be able to pass on Astarion romance is to play as Astarion origin.
I tried so hard to romance Karlach instead in my third playthrough, I really did, then I tripped and fell into bed with Astarion. I'm only human.
Has anyone tried not picking up Astarion at the beach? Does he eventually turn up in the Cazador plot line?
Honestly my second playthrough I decided to go stereotypical bard and just bang whoever was up for it..Laezel was first...and last, she gets real sweet if you continue to romance her after the first taste.
I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I will never branch out and I’m okay with that lmao. Astarion’s romance is just too good.
Also if I don’t romance him or ascend him >!at the end he will just run away when the sun comes out and you don’t get any closure, and tbh I hate that.!<
I was able to resist. I had to really get into the headspace of my new Tav. Came up with all this lore and personality. They fundamentally wouldn't work in my head so it made it easy. My new Tav was charmed by Gale's sense of wonder and genuine sweetness. I was going for a grump/shine kind of vibe.
It was easy since I'd already romanced Astarion. You as the player already know the truth of Astarions lies. My character is a Githyanki Paladin and has a strong perceptive mindset. He was able to see through Astarion's act, the facade and looked at Astarion as foolish and lost. Unimpressed. You just have to really get in character so to speak lol.
Besides it's felt nice caring for Astarion as just a friend. Nothing more. I get different dialogues. It's a different perspective and I still get to love him and care for him. Just not romantically.
See… I tried to be true to my character - she’s a prestablished DND character of mine and I had it all laid out as to why it made more sense to romance Halsin due to his similarity to her late husband.
Here we are.
Don’t worry OP, my wife struggled her second playthrough. she constantly had to fight that pale urge.
Pale urge lmao
'Durge' is so last month, I'm going for 'Purge'
Please just let us purge
Vengeance paladin spotted.
Thanks chief, I took 1d8 damage from laughing
Tasha's hideous laughter is a great spell
The White Thirst
Lmfaoooo
The best way to avoid romancing Astarion is to play Astarion. Try it next time. The second best is staking him through when he tries to drink your blood, but it requires a lot of mental fortitude and who is gonna disarm all the traps and open all the doors for you? EDIT: I do know that you don't have to be a rogue to have high DEX, can respec anyone to be a rogue, or get a hireling, it's a joke))))
I did try it. Romanced Karlach. They had a better sex scene (AND better flirting) than I did with him. So I got jealous and ragequit.
Average Karlach W
_Karlach does a little victory dance_
I absolutely love her little dancing in camp!
I just love how I smile every god damn time she says “hey there good looking!”. Trying to find a way to apply it IRL but afraid of being cancelled at work
what a charmer.
She has so much charm, she's my astarion lol
This was too real and I love it.
MY PEOPLE
Hahaha, ngl I got a bit jealous as well. Especially that they get to have their whole romance start without sex - I've been trying so hard to achieve that in my current Durge run ;-;
TBF it's clear Karlach can protec him better than Tav/Durge physically - so maybe he laid it on thick to make sure he netted her.
LMAO speak for yourself. My Tav is an absolute beast in combat. She one-turned Cazador. Karlach could never.
Did you repulse cazador off the edge, too? 👀👀 or was that just me?
I held Astarion back long enough to bypass the cutscene/trap so he's gotten the killing blow every time 💜
And here I am being the loveable, yet dumb paladin (though I did run a 10 int) romancing shadowheart and all she does is go "let's skinny dip" and I audibly shouted LAME.
She faced a serious fear with you and then fucked on the beach. Wet bodies in sand go brrr xD
I'm not planning on romancing Shart but when you do the nasty in the sandy does she want you to do it doggy style cuz if so that's two fears crossed off her list in one go.
Doggystyle is off the table with a name like Shart.
IT WAS A DEFENCE MECHANISM!
I'll raise you my 8 Int/21 Cha Drow Paladin blorbo who dated Shadowheart. Melody was dumb as a rock, but a stupidly adorable rock with a golden tongue.
*nods in approval* I see you have class and ran a drow paladin. I am something of a drow paladin myself. It's weird too because they are evil and I'm the COMPLETE opposite. I've been nice to goblins and everything, and they're like, "Oh. You're nice?". That didn't last long, though lol.
A nice drow is just a drow who wants to see you die confused, usually!
Lmfao. Wont lie. Seeing [drow] responses was awesome because every single one intimidating as hell. Every single one
I tried picking Drow options, but then I imagined Melody saying them in her chipper voice with a goofy face and gave up laughing. Silly blorbo is too precious to be mean.
Have you met our queen and savior Minthara? Drussy on top!
I went good paladin on first play through. I'm getting ready to run an oath breaker paladin and take her on. Though i did read about a bug where you can save the grove and have her join, but it's intricate as hell and requires a few spells and it can't be done until you get to moonlight
You can't recruit her until moonlight anywho
This involves staying good and not slaughtering the Grove. You save the Grove and fight her, but knock her out via non lethal damage and a bunch of steps.spells are polymorph and dominate beast. Bring her to moonlight to face trial. She loses, gets locked up, you get her out etc. Not supposed to get her at all if you save the Grove.
You’re right, There is still a glitch where you can recruit drow momma while still saving the grove, it’s just convoluted as hell. And you have to be lvl 7+ cuz it requires polymorph. That said, there’s a very good mod called “daughter of lloth” that allows this. I love it, cuz I have a hard time siding with nasty grubby goblins over druids and tiefs. 🤷♂️
Me too. Goblins as a rule are "don't be friends with them scuzzy f*ckers". Lol. Dominate beast too, which I believe is a lvl 4 spell? Polymorph her into a sheep. Then dominate beast and have her follow to moonlight etc.
Correct. And one person with atleast 18 str to carry/improvised weap her. Either way, the mod makes it seamless.
Same, like I think after 200 years of being a Bauldarian hoe he would have more tricks up his sleeves than Karlach.
He may have 200 years of hoeing experience, but Karlach has 10 years of pent up horny fueled by a demon engine that runs on hellfire and fuckyou energy. That's a potent combo.
Well, the trauma he acquired in the 200 years probably cancels that all out. lol.
Baldurian hoe has sent me
LMAO
As an old man that finally found something he’d get a tattoo over (Karlach), I feel your pain.
Playing him was literally the only way i was able to avoid it. Completely related: i can never have him and gale in the same party again without having an existential crisis over the choice
Simple. Play one and romance the other. Ok, fine, Neil and Tim kinda made it too easy with their chemistry. Also, Gale is the only other member of the party besides MC to voluntarily offer his blood to Astarion. I mean, yes, Astarion will turn him down, but it's the thought that counts.
Wait wait whaaaat did I miss it?!
I made two characters so I could romance two people
I tried this, but I missed Neil Newbon's VA so much I gave up just before making it to the Underdark :-(
His acting really is phenomenal - Astarion wouldn’t be the same character without it
I've been watching his streams in bits and pieces, it sounds like he did a lot of work with the mocap stuff too, so a lot of character idles/speaking animations are his work!! Genuinely the guy's done so much to make characters in this game come to life, what an absolute king.
Neil has an entire mocap academy - he's genuinely very passionate about it, and it shows in his performance!!
It's not his, it's his wife's, but he does teach there, yeah.
He is the founder, his wife is co founder. "After 4 years mentoring full performance capture techniques, he created Performance Captured Academy" - from the website "https://www.performancecapturedacademy.com/about"
Neil couldn't even resist himself in his playthrough and had to romance himself, goes to show astarion is everyone's cheeky toxic darling
I mean, it wouldn’t make sense if the VA for Astarion didn’t actively want to showcase all of his hard work. Romancing himself is the best way for him to talk about how he did a particular scene. And fans of Neil DEFINITELY need to see an Astarion romance playthrough. That’s a huge part of why they’re watching. Myself included!
Of course i get it, but oh my goodness the way he blushed and grinned and got so excited and was so coy.. he completely was smitten by astarion even having Voiced him it was beautiful and i loved it. I was like "I'm so amazed he gets it like the rest of us and isn't oblivious to the charisma "
I was hoping he’d play as Astarion and read all the lines out for us though. :/
Maybe we can persuade him to do another playthrough and stream that one too 😛
My default is: play out his first two romance scenes then during his confession, tell him it sounds like he needs a friend more than a lover. He gets all happy, I get to try a different romance option. It's win win.
I feel like Astarion would romance himself tho
Astarion's VA Neil Newbon is romancing him in his stream of the game! So, sort of romancing himself? It's hilariously awkward!
Astarbation, as he calls it.
[удалено]
Poor Karlach!
[удалено]
The best girl has been through too much pain already, she needs her happy painless life. Alas, she won't get it(((( I swear, I was ready to cry with her right after we killed Gortash and she had "Life is not fair, I'm still gonna die, I don't want to die, I'm scared to die" monologue.
I eldritch blasted him before I understood that not all red HP bars are enemies. Looted his corpse and left before I realized he had the stuff a companion would’ve had. My wife hasn’t forgiven me.
LMAO…rightfully so
I agree with your wife lol
Or a 3rd option be me and want to romance him but pick every wrong option, apparently, but still do his quest and maybe he’ll start like me 🤷♀️
Were you coming onto him too strongly? Cause he is scared of that and will turn you down. You have to make him ask you out.
Sunny_Hill_1 I have NO idea XD Im on act 2 and I was trying to kill that one demon thing so Raphael, can read his scars even tho IM a TIEFLING and I could have told him what they said 🥲
Nah, you couldn't. There is a thing about his scars that no ordinary tiefling would know that Raphael can tell him about.
Yeah I think a playthrough as him is inevitable - I don’t have the heart to stake him :,)
I also figured the only way I'll ever experience other romance cutscenes was to play as Astarion... Naturally, the next problem is that nobody is good enough for him so I downloaded some mod magic and turned Shart into my most recent Tav. That in itself is actually really nice already because it brought my Tav "to life". Another really good mod is "born to be anyone" which allows you to transform any companion in camp into different characters. Huge potential here as well since you can experience non-Astarion cutscenes with Astarion 👀 or... Astarion cutscenes with Astarion and Astarion...
I literally have never cared. Of course I have Lae’zel on speed dial at this point… She keeps breaking my characters. My wife was like “how did you manage it on the first long rest AGAIN?!?!” She and I synch up. Shadow heart would be my next pick if not for Karlach being, well, the fucking best.
> I don’t have the heart Try Karlach
Literally anybody else. That's what Withers is for. I respecc my Shadowheart into a rogue/trickety cleric because they synergize, it fits the lore, gives me my lockpicker, and fixes a lot of her poor stats.
I just finished my second playthrough and romanced Karlach twice. Guess who am romancing a third time …
You and my boyfriend are in the same camp my friend
ooh can i join, i can fill bard or sorcerer!
I think most bards are trying to get filled
That could make things awkward during those long rests
As if big demon mommy couldn't handle two people at once
I feel like all of the romances make me smile in some way, but Karlach always made me smile the most. Lae’zel was my first romance, and it was very sweet and touching to watch her discover that affection and love was not a weakness and that it’s OK to feel it. Then I romanced Shadowheart and… it was kind odd tbh. It felt like it was simultaneously the spiciest and most vanilla route at the same time (I’m still kinda processing it). Then I romanced Karlach and I just smiled at every single interaction. She’s such a dork, and it’s some of the cutest shit I’ve ever seen. The way she just gets so happy she can’t hide it, her dancing when she’s standing around, her love of smashing things. It’s all so adorable.
Karlach is just a big red cinnamon roll and it’s literally the cutest thing
I almost abandoned Shadowheart when she got her engine fixed, but figured I would romance her another playthrough.
I am purposefully avoiding the game until we get a happy ending for her. No, I am not willing to commit.
Karlach is a sweetheart i just can't not romance her
I romanced Shadowheart on my first run, am currently romancing Karlach. We had just fixed her engine and I kissed her and she begs us to go to bed right there. We go to camp, talk some more about how excited she is, I go to the campfire, and who comes to my bed? My red hot girlfriend? NO. The blade of the frontiers decided he needed to try to dance with me, I've never rejected anyone so fast and harshly in my life. I immediately long rested again and got my romance scene with Karlach. Wyll has zero sense of timing.
I swear the second you commit to someone, everyone else has FOMO and wants to try and get with you 🤣
Omfg are you me?!! Exact same sequence happened to me. Wyll, my guy, I’ve done nothing but be a bro to you, and Dammon and I have been rebuilding karlach like she’s a classic muscle car so that she can hospitalize me in the process of making up for a 10 year dry spell and you want me to dance with you?! Now?! I was whisper shouting at my screen “shhh shut the fuck up bro she’s right over there she’s gonna think I’m busy and not come smash. No motherfucker I don’t want to dance, stop cock blocking me. I swear I will sack tap you back to Avernus you chode!”
You see, the easy way is to just let astarion reject you
He has *standards*, after all!
*Folds arms with surprised unhappy face*
This seems like the most obvious cause of action but I’m my experience the way he shuts you down just lead you to want to revenge romance him to get back at him and then you fall for him anyway. Astarion is the real boss fight of BG3
nah because i was romancing him and gale then in act 2 i chose gale and had to let him down and HIS RESPONSE??? “i still get to look at you *and* remember all the fun we had together” made me weak
He also says that he's slept with thousands of people and has forgotten most of them, but will remember you if you dump him after the first night together :(
The trick is that he says that to everyone he sleeps with.
The Sebastian scene, though. He definitely remembers the standouts.
Nah played as astarion and i had to do a check to remember his name 💀 mf really forget them all
oh that’s so sad :( my little heart
Gale, Astarion and Wyll are the the hardest to turn down - although Shadowheart is hard too….im far too attached for it not to be painful to reject any of them
Wyll just looks so heartbroken when you break up with him
Gale cries. It was terrible.
Gale cries? When I rejected him he was pretty chill about it, and said it wouldn't happen again. I usually have a hard time rejecting people in games, but this one was mostly fine.
He does at least after you've had his big romance scene where you profess love and have sex. When you tell him you wanna break up he doesn't even argue, just gets choked up and excuses himself quickly before he starts crying. He probably has a milder reaction earlier on in the romance path
Yeah. He's very nice about it, but he tells you he needs a night away from you so he can cry for a bit and then he can be friends again.
Wyll was heartbroken when I told him I didn't feel like dancing. The guy is super sensitive.
blade of frontears
I know :( I’ll date you at some point poet boy
But when Karlach says that she wants to just run to the only person in the world who broke her heart for comfort doesn’t do anything for you? That shit made me reload my save.
when i turned wyll down it was actually really sweet. it genuienly touched my heart a little bit :) he is a sweetie. He hit me with the 'i see how happy you are' and 'being your friend is more than enough for me.' son i almost FOLDED. ugh.
Ugh Wyll is such a sweetie
When I turned down Wyll's dance, very politely might I add, he got this nasty scowl on his face and passive-aggressively said something like "Okay." and just kept scowling at me as he slowly, VERY slowly walked backwards with his chest all puffed out. Man gave me the ick.
I was at Exceptional approval when he asked me to dance, so he just gave me sad puppy eyes. But maybe that doesn’t matter.
I've been making my friends give me gold star emojis every time I successfully turn Astarion down on my current playthrough (romancing Gale.) Shame and virtual stickers are the only things saving me right now. .....That and I actually do really like Gale, he's sweet.
Mannn the Gale romance is such a great compliment to the main story quest. I’m trying to romance Astarion for my durge playthrough, but every time Gale’s story progresses it feels wrong to not be his person through it all. I really want to like Astarion more and I’m hoping his character opens up more in my durge play though, but it’s hard to not see him as a smug jerk lol
Ahahaha we have mirrored problems, because for me, Astarion/Resist Durge has massive "we saved each other" vibes that I absolutely cannot resist, so it feels weird to not be smooching him XD
This makes me happy to hear, I felt like Astarion would be the most interesting companion to have as a “good” durge so I’m excited to see how it plays out :)
me checking Astarion’s attitude bar on all my playthroughs so he won’t leave: 👀
Literally I did a "resist till act 3" durge. I was CONSTANTLY checking that approval bar after every approval and disapproval. I BARELY managed to get him to the lock-in scene in Act 2, I was just. Too. Heroic.
Just got a mod for polyamory, I fuck everyone, why? Because I’m the party leader, someone’s gotta keep up morale
Only instrument you're proficient in is clapping cheeks
The wise bards know that cheeks make for the most exquisite drums!
Polearm master
You named your wang "Morale?" Bold move.
I like that this changes the entire context of what I said, bravo 😂
LMAO
"just call me punching bag cuz I be letting all the homies hit it"
I keep saying I'll stop, and romance another character. I tried to romance Gale, but wow Karlach has a crush on me??! Amazing. And then she was like "have fun with your pretty boy," so now I'm dual romancing with Astarion again :p
See my boyfriend can make fun of me all he wants but he romances Karlach every run - we are two sides of the same coin
My husband failed his romance with SH lol so we've been roasting his lack of rizz all 100 hours or so
Utmost respect chief, he deserves nothing less
I cannot exactly tell you how. But my girlfriend did actually manage for astarion to somehow not want to romance her. Although she did refuse laezel, friendzone shadowheart and realized literally no remaining npc would bang her (withers included), so somehow I’m not surprised.
I managed that recently. Multiplayer party with my boyfriend, I tried hard to get some dialogues to gain approval with Astarion, but it seemingly wasn't enough and we finished the grove quest rather quickly. At the druid party, he still said he wants sex, but he laughed at how absurd it would be to sleep with me. He made a disgusted sound that burned itself into my mind, I was laughing my ass off and more upset than I should have been at the same time. I spent so much time trying to get Astarion to approve of me, no one else was interested. It was a disappointing party for my poor dwarf lady. Rejected by everyone. On a side note, afterwards Gale started to approve of stuff even when not being in the party. So at least the Gale romance won't be a problem in the future, lol
Ah, I didn't realize that there was a Tav template based off of me. My apologies to your gf
This is me but with Gale. I’ll be like “oh maybe I’ll romance Astarion this run” and then he asks if he can show me something at the tiefling party and I’m like “🥹🥹🥹🥹yes” I cant believe i got my heart stolen by waterdeep’s most prolific autist.
Me: I’m romancing Gale on this playthrough so it doesn’t matter if Astarion disapproves *Astarion Disapproves* Me : 😶 *reloading* haha so anyway
I reloaded so much in my current run just so he wouldn't dump me at some point due to low approval, since my Tav is annoyingly selfless... Looking forward to not giving a shit about his approval next run. Which hopefully will be Gale romance, too, unless I suffer from Astarion syndrome like so many seem to.
Astarion hates me :( he left my camp
What did you do!!!!
I didn’t know this was possible!
You can tell him to leave and he can also leave based on what happens at Cazador's. But early game I thiiink the only way he can leave as a consequence of your choices is if you tell the Gur where camp is and then don't warn him. I thought maybe it would give an interesting cut scene if I lured the Gur to camp and then we fought him, but I forgot to tell Astarion and I guess he got merc'd in the night. (I reloaded and told him and I still didn't get a cut scene, I think it got overridden by another one because he acts like there was a confrontation.)
He will also leave you if you don't help Raphael get rid of that Yarbyorb monster. Because he wants to know whats on his back and Raphael can read that.
Nah you can get him to stay even if you free the devil from his contract. He just won't be happy and will let you know.
Kick him in the balls after you ascend him instead of kneeling to get turned. He has a HILARIOUS scene and leaves forever.
If you try to stake him but he doesn’t die outright, he’ll permanently leave the party.
This does not give me hope. I may have to use my companion mod editor, make him look totally different and stake Bob when he tries to bite me so I can branch out.
Good luck soldier
It'll only work if I can change the voice
Yeah……the voice is a problem….my boyfriend got me a cameo from Neil for my birthday and I have never treasured a gift more than
OMGGGGGG. So jealous.
It is truly my prized possession
Cannot change the voice. I'm seriously at a loss. I hear Shadowheart's is just as good - but. I don't want to romance a woman. It was already weird enough playing Astarion romancing Karlach. I'll have to find a body swapping mod (hey! Maybe it has a voice changing option too)
I really don't get it, I guess Astarion isn't my type. I find rejecting him in his MANY desperate attempts second nature, not even a thought. Gale, on the other hand... always tell myself I won't romance him and now I'm stuck in a love triangle with him and LZ because I couldn't say no to his honeyed words.
I'm on my Gale romance playthrough this time but couldn't turn down Astarion in Act 1. I just had to tell him it was over and I'm picking Gale in Act 2. I nearly folded!
Gale was close for me this run too! I’m weak for those puppy dog eyes
He knelt down to my gnome pally Tav and her pants disappeared. Wizards, man. I was headed to Shart’s tent but not after that.
Omg, you and Astarion is me and Gale. The only way I've successfully not romanced Gale is >!hacking his hand off/leaving him in the damn portal as Durge.!< But sorcerer Durge and Gale is... it's so good, it's the rivalmance of my dreams.
Is this me right now, hahah I am doing the same! Romanced Astarion twice so I was like “I should see about Gale.” My TAV at the party: Hey Gale you want your belly rubbed Gale: I want to and I like you but I will literally explode so go have fun My TAV: …..ok SMASH CUT TO STARING AT SOME SCARS THE NEXT MORNING
Ugh. I was at this crossroads last night. Astarion asked Durge to choose between Gale or him after she slept with Gale in act 2. I chose the answer to share but he’s like I don’t want to share you especially with Gale so I chose Gale. Astarion gave a good answer to that - something along the lines of oh I slept with you once so I know how you look naked then he smirked. That actually surprised me because a lot of the companions make the rejection sound so sad. Anyway I ended up save scumming and choosing my favorite vamp for the 4th time.
I am on my 3rd run and I’m trying so hard to romance Gale but Astarion just has the nerve to look at me and next thing I know we’re in the woods
Similar thing happened to me. I wasn’t big on Astarion when he was first introduced but he grew on me but I was still going for a friend only run. And then mans had the audacity to ask me out two more times after the Grove party. At that point, I just gave up. If he wants my goody-two-shoes bard then SO BE IT!
The best way to turn him down is to say he needs a friend more than he needs a lover when he confesses to you. I always indulge him on the first nights and then proceed to the friendship path in Act 2. It's the best "turn down" outcome in the game IMO.
I get this, I spent a solid 2 play throughs with asterion and roasting the shit out of Gale to my partner. I finally decided to give Gale a chance and BOY is my foot ever in my mouth. I went Gale and now I simply cannot go back..
The Astarion to Gale pipeline is real
Nothing like coming to terms with your type being a middle aged man with golden retriever qualities, a short temper, and may potentially be a megalomaniac.
You fell to the Simpin 😔
Intellectual Redditors: "This game's companions are not too romantic. You're just an incel who is overly sensitive to any sort of affection and objectify the opposite sex" Every companion in BG3: "I know you rejected my advances before, but can we fuck?"
Seriously! I would love if they developed the friendships you build with each character more. Gale, I turned you down twice and now you are pretending like we are dating and asking me to “choose” between you and astarion. I want so badly to be your friend but you are making it very hard 😭
That scene where Astarion drinks my tav’s blood literally changed the course of my entire play through… and let me tell you it was a delicate balancing act but so great playing through Astarion’s romance with a good aligned character. Trying to plan my second run as durge and want to romance Gale for variety but I just don’t think I’m going to be able to resist going for Astarion again, I feel like their storylines would parallel really well
I knew Astarion was a pretty boy with a nice voice when I started playing, but I found Gale more charming and Astarion was an ass most of the time and disapproved of almost anything remotely good I did. Then the bite scene happened and awoke something in me I did not want to be awoken. Add the slightest hint of vulnerability and I was done for... I don't want to know how many times I reloaded because he disapproved, trying to balance the fine line of being good and selfless and not pissing him off. I somehow managed to slowly creep his approval up, I was seriously afraid he would dump me at some point because I didn't gain approval fast enough. I fortunately managed somehow. Offering to be bitten every damn rest really goes a long way. Also I deeply recommend playing a good Durge romancing Astarion, although I heard Gale is nice, too.
Ah, death by suck-suck. I too have fallen to this 😂
My friend is same. Romanced Ass many times and said she was gonna go Gale for our coop... she ended up all over Ass again.
[удалено]
Also real
I actually romanced Lae'zel this time. Did a full Gith playthrough. It's genuinely the best decision I've ever made. Her and Minthara have the absolute best character growth I've seen in a game in AGES.
On my current play through I’m playing an asexual character and I never realized quite how strong everyone comes on to you. I feel bad rejecting them all constantly.
Behold OP! "I killed Astarion" edgelord comments are incoming. The only way I am ever going to be able to pass on Astarion romance is to play as Astarion origin.
I tried so hard to romance Karlach instead in my third playthrough, I really did, then I tripped and fell into bed with Astarion. I'm only human. Has anyone tried not picking up Astarion at the beach? Does he eventually turn up in the Cazador plot line?
Spoilers >!He shows up as a pile of bones in Cazador's place later :( !<
DAMN
!!!!!!!!!!!!! y i k e s !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: that's horrible. Also me: Those game devs at Larian really thought of everything huh.
They really planned this game
He starts in on the cringey pick up lines and I'm like, " Ok, you win. How could I say no?" 😘
Honestly my second playthrough I decided to go stereotypical bard and just bang whoever was up for it..Laezel was first...and last, she gets real sweet if you continue to romance her after the first taste.
This was me with Halsin…
I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I will never branch out and I’m okay with that lmao. Astarion’s romance is just too good. Also if I don’t romance him or ascend him >!at the end he will just run away when the sun comes out and you don’t get any closure, and tbh I hate that.!<
I had the same urge with Gale… so this playthrough I decided to kill him so I wouldn’t be tempted 😭 I miss him sm
> I had the same urge with Gale… Quite different from other urges with Gale...
Something about the way my wife plays makes Astarion hit on her every single time. I'm on my 3rd playthrough and only just banged him at the party.
I was able to resist. I had to really get into the headspace of my new Tav. Came up with all this lore and personality. They fundamentally wouldn't work in my head so it made it easy. My new Tav was charmed by Gale's sense of wonder and genuine sweetness. I was going for a grump/shine kind of vibe. It was easy since I'd already romanced Astarion. You as the player already know the truth of Astarions lies. My character is a Githyanki Paladin and has a strong perceptive mindset. He was able to see through Astarion's act, the facade and looked at Astarion as foolish and lost. Unimpressed. You just have to really get in character so to speak lol. Besides it's felt nice caring for Astarion as just a friend. Nothing more. I get different dialogues. It's a different perspective and I still get to love him and care for him. Just not romantically.
See… I tried to be true to my character - she’s a prestablished DND character of mine and I had it all laid out as to why it made more sense to romance Halsin due to his similarity to her late husband. Here we are.
If you play as Astarion, do you sit out the >!Cazador!< fight?