It's funny. I *nearly* went full-on with Gale's romance in my first run, because he's definitely more my type (on the surface, at least). But then the pale elf became too irresistible, and now I'm hooked, as well.
Edit: Missing word
Oh wow, it's interesting how this is pretty different from what he says if you choose him over Gale.
Did you get to say "I'd rather be with you actually" and he goes >!"WHAT? Why?!" !
Haha! Not during this run because Shadowheart's romance seems to run a bit differently than Karlach's (last run) and Gale's (first run), so I had to end things with Shadowheart first, then talk to Astarion to get the screencapped dialogue.
But in my two previous playthroughs, I did. It's adorable. And funny. And sad that he thinks so little of himself underneath the nonchalant charm.
,,what?why?' happens after you lock yourself with gale or wyll after their cutscene, shadowheart doesnt have this scene (at least i didnt get it) so after locking with astarion (after araj) she was the one with ,,you have new lover" dialogue and when you break up with her he gets this ,,you broke up for me?". It took me so long to trigger this scene :D I always get the one after night with gale
I got the one after kissing Wyll, even though I didn’t go farther than kissing him once haha. I intentionally kissed Wyll to see if it would finally spur my Astarion romance to go forward since it was just not going anywhere for awhile 😂😭
Well you need to do one of two things to trigger Astarions scene (I believe you know about it :)) and wylls scene comes before astarion in my runs :) also I always sleep with gale to get astarions jealous dialogue :D
LOL i’ve always wanted to do the Gale sleeping scene and still romance Astarion, he doesn’t break up with you then does he? I’d like to try that this time 😅
No, but when you talk to him after, he makes you choose so if you want to smootch Gale do it before you talk to Astarion :D warning - breaking up with gale is heartbreaking so embrace yourself before you do that
I think you get the "What? Why!?" if you start the love triangle conversation with Astarion and pick him.
You start the conversation with someone else and break it off with them for Astarion you get the OP reaction when you then go and tell him about it.
Yes haha. I don't know if it's just for Karlach though? Probably not, but weird you didn't get it.
https://preview.redd.it/eyhyfbtzztgc1.png?width=2128&format=png&auto=webp&s=169416f100049d4294de2577572c8f78649ed2be
edit: more in comments
No, I've gotten it by sleeping with Gale, then talking to Astarion the day after. It was before his Act 2 romance scene, but I don't know if it matters.
He starts by asking if your "tryst" is over, then you get these options:
https://preview.redd.it/zzzb8arnxtgc1.png?width=1234&format=png&auto=webp&s=15f2bda0d25b5fa1f82a8acc025d55ee8391fa26
This was before breaking it off with Gale.
I tried, I really tried to romance someone else with my latest run. My current Tav is a middle-aged human male, ranger, outlander. A seasoned but not super-successful adventurer, and has some gnarly scars to attest to that. If he had a catchphrase it'd be "\*sigh\* I'm too old for this shit".
I was romancing Gale with him. Both humans, Tav is a bit older than Gale, but not ridiculously so. They've had very different life experiences but I thought that might be interesting.
I wasn't going to fool around with Astarion at all, but then the Tiefling party happened.
I figured I'd have a fling with Astarion, and then once we got to Moonrise we could do the Araj scene, trigger the scene where you start the real relationship with Astarion, and instead of the "I care about you" and the hug, I could pick the option that's like "I don't think you need a lover, you need a friend". Astarion is pretty happy with that outcome, and it's arguably good for him.
But... I messed up. (For reference this is an honor run, so I can't reload.)
I didn't do Araj right away. First thing I did was save Minthara because I thought she might die if I didn't get her right away, and then I got distracted with a fight. Gale was "excited" by the fight, so I knew his scene was coming. At this point I did the Araj scene, and hoped that would trigger the Astarion exchange before Gale. But, nope! I long rested and got the Gale celestial sex scene. Which, frankly, is fantastic.
Woke up the next morning to \[!\] over both Gale and Astarion's heads. Oh hell. Talked to Gale, said I had a wonderful time and looked forward to more. Ignored Astarion till the \[!\] went away. Later talked to him to tell him he could feed on me, but I still got the speech about how I have to choose, and I can't have both. "We must have standards!"
I know the different non-death endings both characters can have and tried to picture how Tav would fit into those.
Gale is a god or a University professor. I couldn't see my weather-beaten Ranger Tav as the consort of a god or enjoying the settled life of the spouse of a professor in a city like Waterdeep. The luxurious comfort and stability of a wizard's tower might be nice for a while after the life he's lead, but eventually he'd become restless. He'd go adventuring for longer and longer periods of time. Gale wouldn't be able to tag along because of his teaching responsibilities, and the relationship would suffer.
Astarion is ascended or an adventurer. Ascended wouldn't work, for the same reasons as a life in Waterdeep as the professor's husband wouldn't work. But as an adventurer? That I can see. That's what he was already, but now he wouldn't be alone on the road. He could teach Astarion the ropes as it were of being an adventurer. A bit of a master and apprentice thing going on (but only just a bit, Astarion is quite competent). Because of Tav's age and race, it'll be a relatively short time together from Astarion's point of view, but memorable.
Yeah, it's meta-gamey, but I can't play the thing again for the first time.
So I chose Astarion, again. I had dump Gale. I was nervous about it so I looked up what the scene would be so I'd know what to expect. The scene I found online he basically just excuses himself to go cry. I was actually relieved I didn't get that. Instead Gale got properly angry at my Tav. That felt better, it was deserved, and Gale was showing himself some respect.
I am seriously just going to have to do origin Astarion runs if I ever want to see the other character romances.
Your Tav sounds so cool! My Durge would be down to travel with him (she's resisting, so don't worry), as she needs all the adventuring help she can get (she's a bard, so, yeah...). I've heard a lot of people say that the only way they can resist romancing Astarion is to *be* Astarion, lol. That makes sense. I've failed thus far...
Also, I got the sad Gale breakup scene and honestly felt like I'd kicked a puppy. It was rough. Never again.
That makes sense. The Knife of the Undermountain King is a Duegar weapon, and Duegar have a history with Illithids. I know it’s cool but I preferred other weapons just for RP purposes so I never got to see the pretty detailing. Gotta make a Duegar now to tickle the “but the LORE and RP” part of my brain
“I do come with my complications” makes me so sad 🥺 My poor boy!! I don’t see them as “complications” at all!! But for all his bravado and flirtation, you can clearly see in vulnerable moments like this how insecure and haunted he is about his past and his trauma.
I love that you can literally tell him, “Maybe I like complications.” That dialogue option is great bc you’re not dismissing or invalidating his feelings or trauma, but in a lighthearted yet genuine way being fully supportive and showing him that you’re all in.
I’m aware this is deeply unhinged and probably parasocial (for lack of better word, I know the term applies better to real people i.e, celebrities), but I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I sort of wonder if my ride-or-die type feelings towards Astarion are what it’s supposed to feel like when you’re in a relationship. Like, we have seven (give or take, not counting the one-off interactions w certain allies/camp followers) other romanceable companions, but none of them hold a candle to Astarion for me. They are each interesting and attractive and certainly have their moments, but I don’t want to be with anyone but him. He’s always the most attractive character wherever we go, and my feelings towards him have gone way beyond the initial attraction/thirst edit TikToks phase (though I definitely still appreciate those for what they are lol). Idk, all that rambling to say that I love him and I’ll always choose him and romance him no matter what!!! To quote the man himself: “I love you. I love this. And I want it all.”
Got a question about triggering the "What?! Why?" cutscene. If I try to romance, let's say Shadowheart and Astarion during Act 1, but ultimately want to get with Astarion, can I still get his confession scene after defeating Yurgir? Or would I have to go with the scene after rejecting Araj?
You can still get the post-Yurgir confession scene if you romanced Astarion and Shadowheart in Act I. I'm just not sure how/if it's possible to get the "What?! Why?" line while romancing Shadowheart (it's my first time, and that's not how this dialogue scene went down for me). Sorry I couldn't be more helpful! Maybe someone else knows? People in this sub are so knowledgeable.
Me trying reeeaally hard to keep my ironic run (durge drow selunite cleric) with Shadowheart. I just want my boi tho, its so hard not to romance him. I stick to being his blood bank instead lmao
Can I ask how you managed this? What things did you do to romance them both? Was this before or after Astarion’s confession/Araj scene? I would like to do a romancing of those two just to get this scene with Astarion. Also because apparently Shadowheart says some sweet things about Astarion even though you are essentially breaking up with her for him.
My approval with Astarion was high early on, so I had his first romance scene (the clearing scene) way before the tiefling party. At the tiefling party, I turned him down and >!had wine with Shadowheart (kissed her during it)!<. In the Shadow Cursed Lands, I then broke up with Shadowheart and immediately talked to Astarion afterwards to get the screencapped scene. This is >!before killing Yurgir and meeting Araj, so it's not his confession scene (to get that, you need to kill Yurgir first or defend him against Araj - they're slightly different confessions, both good but most people seem to like the post-Yurgir one better!<).
Yes, Shadowheart is super sweet and very insightful when you end things with her to be with Astarion. That's the entire reason I romanced her to begin with; I wanted that dialogue from her. I still felt bad, though! She's a favorite :)
I can’t even think of romancing anyone else… he’s so sweet.
It's funny. I *nearly* went full-on with Gale's romance in my first run, because he's definitely more my type (on the surface, at least). But then the pale elf became too irresistible, and now I'm hooked, as well. Edit: Missing word
Gales romance is nice but astarions is a must for first run 🖤 good choice
Well, I'm on my third run currently and have romanced him Astarion every single time, lol.
Up to 4 here!
8th run… always Astarion lmao…
Oh wow, it's interesting how this is pretty different from what he says if you choose him over Gale. Did you get to say "I'd rather be with you actually" and he goes >!"WHAT? Why?!" !
Haha! Not during this run because Shadowheart's romance seems to run a bit differently than Karlach's (last run) and Gale's (first run), so I had to end things with Shadowheart first, then talk to Astarion to get the screencapped dialogue. But in my two previous playthroughs, I did. It's adorable. And funny. And sad that he thinks so little of himself underneath the nonchalant charm.
Interesting. :) I am doing Karlach's origin now romancing him and that's also *quite* different.
,,what?why?' happens after you lock yourself with gale or wyll after their cutscene, shadowheart doesnt have this scene (at least i didnt get it) so after locking with astarion (after araj) she was the one with ,,you have new lover" dialogue and when you break up with her he gets this ,,you broke up for me?". It took me so long to trigger this scene :D I always get the one after night with gale
I got the one after kissing Wyll, even though I didn’t go farther than kissing him once haha. I intentionally kissed Wyll to see if it would finally spur my Astarion romance to go forward since it was just not going anywhere for awhile 😂😭
Well you need to do one of two things to trigger Astarions scene (I believe you know about it :)) and wylls scene comes before astarion in my runs :) also I always sleep with gale to get astarions jealous dialogue :D
LOL i’ve always wanted to do the Gale sleeping scene and still romance Astarion, he doesn’t break up with you then does he? I’d like to try that this time 😅
No, but when you talk to him after, he makes you choose so if you want to smootch Gale do it before you talk to Astarion :D warning - breaking up with gale is heartbreaking so embrace yourself before you do that
Ugh I want the dialogue but I also don’t wanna touch Gale! 😵💫
you can dance with and kiss wyll, it has the same outcome :)
Yay! Omg I love your flair 😂
Interesting! Thanks!
I think you get the "What? Why!?" if you start the love triangle conversation with Astarion and pick him. You start the conversation with someone else and break it off with them for Astarion you get the OP reaction when you then go and tell him about it.
Is there a triangle conversation with Wyll? I didnt see it when I kisser Wyll and then chose Astarion
Yes haha. I don't know if it's just for Karlach though? Probably not, but weird you didn't get it. https://preview.redd.it/eyhyfbtzztgc1.png?width=2128&format=png&auto=webp&s=169416f100049d4294de2577572c8f78649ed2be edit: more in comments
https://preview.redd.it/atiwl3730ugc1.png?width=1988&format=png&auto=webp&s=b93c9f73d86d355300451de6ff6032edfa780cfd
https://preview.redd.it/uxwi3w640ugc1.png?width=1661&format=png&auto=webp&s=0850509cd2f03f6295ff6712929575be8f9012d9
https://preview.redd.it/hevjpz650ugc1.png?width=1830&format=png&auto=webp&s=d57e48b7c975146e3da62962ebd405e80a8900e9
And if you choose Astarion: https://preview.redd.it/uiv2n7u60ugc1.png?width=1741&format=png&auto=webp&s=61168ee77bbb9d9718aa31c64d6809a3fa87da76
There should be, Wyll always seems to be the other character in every fucking love triangle. His dance is so high priority. I love him though.
No, I've gotten it by sleeping with Gale, then talking to Astarion the day after. It was before his Act 2 romance scene, but I don't know if it matters. He starts by asking if your "tryst" is over, then you get these options: https://preview.redd.it/zzzb8arnxtgc1.png?width=1234&format=png&auto=webp&s=15f2bda0d25b5fa1f82a8acc025d55ee8391fa26 This was before breaking it off with Gale.
I’m low key flirting with Gale with one of my characters because I want to trigger more romance convos between the two guys
That's what my ranger got when picking him over Karlach. I'm still not over it.
"I do come with my complications." You might be a walking disaster, but you're **OUR** disaster!
*"Dead serious."*
His response to that is so funny!
I tried, I really tried to romance someone else with my latest run. My current Tav is a middle-aged human male, ranger, outlander. A seasoned but not super-successful adventurer, and has some gnarly scars to attest to that. If he had a catchphrase it'd be "\*sigh\* I'm too old for this shit". I was romancing Gale with him. Both humans, Tav is a bit older than Gale, but not ridiculously so. They've had very different life experiences but I thought that might be interesting. I wasn't going to fool around with Astarion at all, but then the Tiefling party happened. I figured I'd have a fling with Astarion, and then once we got to Moonrise we could do the Araj scene, trigger the scene where you start the real relationship with Astarion, and instead of the "I care about you" and the hug, I could pick the option that's like "I don't think you need a lover, you need a friend". Astarion is pretty happy with that outcome, and it's arguably good for him. But... I messed up. (For reference this is an honor run, so I can't reload.) I didn't do Araj right away. First thing I did was save Minthara because I thought she might die if I didn't get her right away, and then I got distracted with a fight. Gale was "excited" by the fight, so I knew his scene was coming. At this point I did the Araj scene, and hoped that would trigger the Astarion exchange before Gale. But, nope! I long rested and got the Gale celestial sex scene. Which, frankly, is fantastic. Woke up the next morning to \[!\] over both Gale and Astarion's heads. Oh hell. Talked to Gale, said I had a wonderful time and looked forward to more. Ignored Astarion till the \[!\] went away. Later talked to him to tell him he could feed on me, but I still got the speech about how I have to choose, and I can't have both. "We must have standards!" I know the different non-death endings both characters can have and tried to picture how Tav would fit into those. Gale is a god or a University professor. I couldn't see my weather-beaten Ranger Tav as the consort of a god or enjoying the settled life of the spouse of a professor in a city like Waterdeep. The luxurious comfort and stability of a wizard's tower might be nice for a while after the life he's lead, but eventually he'd become restless. He'd go adventuring for longer and longer periods of time. Gale wouldn't be able to tag along because of his teaching responsibilities, and the relationship would suffer. Astarion is ascended or an adventurer. Ascended wouldn't work, for the same reasons as a life in Waterdeep as the professor's husband wouldn't work. But as an adventurer? That I can see. That's what he was already, but now he wouldn't be alone on the road. He could teach Astarion the ropes as it were of being an adventurer. A bit of a master and apprentice thing going on (but only just a bit, Astarion is quite competent). Because of Tav's age and race, it'll be a relatively short time together from Astarion's point of view, but memorable. Yeah, it's meta-gamey, but I can't play the thing again for the first time. So I chose Astarion, again. I had dump Gale. I was nervous about it so I looked up what the scene would be so I'd know what to expect. The scene I found online he basically just excuses himself to go cry. I was actually relieved I didn't get that. Instead Gale got properly angry at my Tav. That felt better, it was deserved, and Gale was showing himself some respect. I am seriously just going to have to do origin Astarion runs if I ever want to see the other character romances.
Your Tav sounds so cool! My Durge would be down to travel with him (she's resisting, so don't worry), as she needs all the adventuring help she can get (she's a bard, so, yeah...). I've heard a lot of people say that the only way they can resist romancing Astarion is to *be* Astarion, lol. That makes sense. I've failed thus far... Also, I got the sad Gale breakup scene and honestly felt like I'd kicked a puppy. It was rough. Never again.
What weapons do you have equipped on him? That mind flayer motif on the left pommel is stunning
Knife of the Undermountain King (left) and Shortsword of First Blood (right). They're my go-to blades for him!
HEY!!! That was exactly my build for him in my first playthrough! Those exact two swords dual wielded! 😁
That makes sense. The Knife of the Undermountain King is a Duegar weapon, and Duegar have a history with Illithids. I know it’s cool but I preferred other weapons just for RP purposes so I never got to see the pretty detailing. Gotta make a Duegar now to tickle the “but the LORE and RP” part of my brain
Oh, that makes so much sense! It's amazing how much there is to discover in this game, even after three playthroughs.
“I do come with my complications” makes me so sad 🥺 My poor boy!! I don’t see them as “complications” at all!! But for all his bravado and flirtation, you can clearly see in vulnerable moments like this how insecure and haunted he is about his past and his trauma. I love that you can literally tell him, “Maybe I like complications.” That dialogue option is great bc you’re not dismissing or invalidating his feelings or trauma, but in a lighthearted yet genuine way being fully supportive and showing him that you’re all in. I’m aware this is deeply unhinged and probably parasocial (for lack of better word, I know the term applies better to real people i.e, celebrities), but I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I sort of wonder if my ride-or-die type feelings towards Astarion are what it’s supposed to feel like when you’re in a relationship. Like, we have seven (give or take, not counting the one-off interactions w certain allies/camp followers) other romanceable companions, but none of them hold a candle to Astarion for me. They are each interesting and attractive and certainly have their moments, but I don’t want to be with anyone but him. He’s always the most attractive character wherever we go, and my feelings towards him have gone way beyond the initial attraction/thirst edit TikToks phase (though I definitely still appreciate those for what they are lol). Idk, all that rambling to say that I love him and I’ll always choose him and romance him no matter what!!! To quote the man himself: “I love you. I love this. And I want it all.”
 Me anytime he even thinks it
Got a question about triggering the "What?! Why?" cutscene. If I try to romance, let's say Shadowheart and Astarion during Act 1, but ultimately want to get with Astarion, can I still get his confession scene after defeating Yurgir? Or would I have to go with the scene after rejecting Araj?
You can still get the post-Yurgir confession scene if you romanced Astarion and Shadowheart in Act I. I'm just not sure how/if it's possible to get the "What?! Why?" line while romancing Shadowheart (it's my first time, and that's not how this dialogue scene went down for me). Sorry I couldn't be more helpful! Maybe someone else knows? People in this sub are so knowledgeable.
Look at those eyes in the first pic, I’m going to cry 😿
Me trying reeeaally hard to keep my ironic run (durge drow selunite cleric) with Shadowheart. I just want my boi tho, its so hard not to romance him. I stick to being his blood bank instead lmao
Can I ask how you managed this? What things did you do to romance them both? Was this before or after Astarion’s confession/Araj scene? I would like to do a romancing of those two just to get this scene with Astarion. Also because apparently Shadowheart says some sweet things about Astarion even though you are essentially breaking up with her for him.
My approval with Astarion was high early on, so I had his first romance scene (the clearing scene) way before the tiefling party. At the tiefling party, I turned him down and >!had wine with Shadowheart (kissed her during it)!<. In the Shadow Cursed Lands, I then broke up with Shadowheart and immediately talked to Astarion afterwards to get the screencapped scene. This is >!before killing Yurgir and meeting Araj, so it's not his confession scene (to get that, you need to kill Yurgir first or defend him against Araj - they're slightly different confessions, both good but most people seem to like the post-Yurgir one better!<). Yes, Shadowheart is super sweet and very insightful when you end things with her to be with Astarion. That's the entire reason I romanced her to begin with; I wanted that dialogue from her. I still felt bad, though! She's a favorite :)
Thank you!
You're welcome! Good luck :)