Companions are one of the most important features in Baldur’s Gate 3. Many players dedicate entire playthroughs just to build a relationship with another character. One of the companions, however, is causing frustration with a scripted cutscene: Astarion, the slightly arrogant elf.
Spoiler Warning: The article discusses character developments and companions, including light spoilers for some of the characters – primarily from Act 1.
Who is the companion? Astarion is an elf and is default a rogue. You find him quite early in the game and can recruit him as one of the 10 companions, and later even enter into a romance with him.
Essentially, Astarion is more on the “evil” side, but he doesn’t complain too much to “good” players either. Especially his charm and appearance make him a fan favorite, many players try to fix
him.
This is the problem with Astarion: Most companions have certain interactions with the player that usually occur while resting. However, Astarion has a cutscene quite early that is always triggered.
The problem is that this cutscene is quite important for the companion’s personal quest: you catch Astarion bloodsucking and find out that he is a vampire. This cutscene can also appear even when another is actually planned.
If you’ve increased enough with certain companions, you can invite them to intimate moments and even to lovemaking. Some companions are so bold that they instead challenge you (and do not tolerate any contradiction).
However, right here, the romantic meeting may not take place because Astarion shows up instead to sink his fangs into your neck.
With a special love scene, Baldur’s Gate 3 became known right away:
“I thought it was funny – Now it happened to me too”
Some users on Reddit experienced this when they were actually looking forward to a sex scene with the Drow Minthara. This is particularly frustrating because getting Minthara as a companion at all is extremely labor-intensive:
- you have to be extremely evil and already slaughter the tiefling refugees in the druid grove in Act 1
- there is an alternative that isn’t necessarily so bloody, but is actually even meaner
- afterwards you need to talk to Minthara and must not seek answers too much in her fears
- you can actually recruit her later in Act 2
After the slaughter in the grove, the goblins throw a party in your camp and Minthara leads you to a ruin where she offers to have sex with you. However, this is exactly where Astarion may break in and instead indulge his bloodlust. Thus, nothing happens with the sex.
This is how you bypass the problem: It is essentially a bug or rather that players seem to play differently than intended. Because the Astarion scene is postponed until you take a long rest.
Some players, especially experienced ones, do not rest that often. On the one hand, because it is not always necessary, and on the other hand, because quests can fail if you rest too often. Accordingly, players tend to be more cautious. However, there are some tricks:
- if you lack supplies, you can also rest just for the story – but you won’t get any regeneration. Use a short rest for that
- you can visit the camp and talk to companions without actually resting
- in general, the rule is: if you don’t know anything about a quest yet, it can’t fail by resting. There are a few exceptions, though
The long rest system already causes some discussions, due to the fear of missing something. A good middle ground seems to be to take a long rest after every 3-4 fights. This way, you won’t miss too much and still get all the cutscenes.
How you can approach your companions correctly can be found here:
Baldur’s Gate 3: Romance Guide for all companions – This is how you land with your companions
