Astarion is one of the companions in Baldur’s Gate 3. He is a High Elf Rogue who is also a vampire. Thanks to the effects of the parasite, he is not affected by some of the bad effects of being a vampire. Astarion seeks to find his old master and plot his revenge for using him as a mere pawn. Read ahead as we talk more about Astarion and how to recruit him as a companion in Baldur’s Gate 3.
BG3: How to recruit Astarion
Astarion can be found just west of the Nautiloid crash site. He will say that he found a Devourer and wants you to kill it. If you agree to his request, he will jump on your instead and hold a knife to your neck. You can then keep the peaceful route and pass several checks, and because of the parasite, you both will have visions of each other’s experiences.
Astarion will then be convinced that both of you are safe from transforming into a mind flayer for now. You can then choose to let Astarion join your party or let him be on his own.
BG3: Astarion Companion Quest – The Pale Elf
Astarion’s companion quest, The Pale Elf, starts as soon as you recruit him into the party. As you take a rest at your camp, a scene will play showing Astarion about to bite you as you sleep. You then find out that he is actually a vampire and he explains his situation. He then asks for your blood so that he can regain his vigor and continue to hunt down the blood of other animals instead.
If you allow Astarion to drink your blood, you will gain his approval. You then have to either pass a Persuasion (DC 5) or a Strength check (DC 7) to stop Astarion from sucking too much blood. If you fail the first time, you will have to do another Persuasion check, but it will be tougher (DC 15); if you fail the second one, you will run out of blood and die.
After some time and through more dialogues, you will later learn that Astarion was killed before and was resurrected as a vampire by Cazador. He thinks that the parasite may have negated some of the negative traits of being a vampire, such as being burned by sunlight or needing to be invited to enter a house.
Later on, your party will encounter a monster hunter who is looking for Astarion. Depending on whether you have Astarion on your party or not, you then get to engage with the hunter or lead them astray.
Seek out the devil Raphael
During one of your camp rests, you will see Astarion and his bare back which is showing scars that form a poem written in Infernal. Astarion does not know much about it aside from the fact that Cazador did it to him, but he suspects that the devil Raphael may know something about it. If you have done an intimate scene with him early on, you may have already seen these scars. Additionally, if you are playing as a tiefling, you can then be able to read the scars, but you will find out that they’re only fragments which appear to be part of something bigger.
Head to the Shadow-Cursed Lands and go to the Last Light Inn where you will meet Raphael. Astarion asks the devil about what the scars meant, but Raphael wants something to be done for him first. He demands to kill a beast that he once knew and have it sent back to the hells.
Kill the Orthon
Make your way to the Thorm Mausoleum where you will meet Raphael once again. He then reveals that he wants you to kill the orthon named Yurgir inside the mausoleum. Once inside the mausoleum, you will have to solve puzzles through the Gauntlet of Shar. To make sure that you find Yurgir’s location, you can follow the displacer beast as it heads north-northeast.
You then have three ways of engaging with Yurgir:
- Follow the displacer beast to talk to Yurgir about his contract
- Persuade Yurgir to find the thing that he missed
- Persuade Yurgir to kill his minions and himself
- Don’t follow the displacer and approach Yurgir sneakily
Since your deal with Raphael is to kill Yurgir, you can go for the last two options. Sneaking up on Yurgir is the hardest choice to go for since the fight will be hard with all of his minions around to help him.
In order to persuade Yurgir to kill himself instead, you must first ask him about his contract, then pick the option that points out about the trick in the contract and suggest that he get rid of the followers. You will have to pass several Persuasion checks that get harder each time: minion (DC 16), displacer beast (DC 21), and finally Yurgir himself (DC 21). If you fail at any of these rolls, you will have to fight whoever is left in his camp. At least get rid of all of his adds as having them alive will make it hard for your party to survive.
Once Yurgir is dead, Raphael will appear and fulfill his end of the deal. He reveals that the scars on Astarion’s back is actually a pact between Mephistopheles and Cazador where Cazador will learn about the Rite of Profane Ascension. Raphael also reveals what this rite entails, including the sacrifice of all of Cazador’s spawns which includes Astarion.
If you happen to kill Raphael before you get your end of the deal or if you help Yurgir break his contract, your objective will be updated to go and face Cazador instead in his place in Baldur’s Gate.
Face Cazador Szarr
Make your way to the Szarr Palace and go through its halls until you find Cazador in his chamber. After a few dialogues, you will be fighting against him and his minions. Defeat him and he will be sent back to his sarcophagus to heal up. You will also need to defeat all of his minions so that you can open up the sarcophagus and prevent him from regaining health.
Once Astarion has Cazador on the ground, he will ask for your help. You will have different outcomes whether or not you help him with what he is planning.
Help Astarion
If you agree, he will ask you to use the parasite to look at his back so that he could see his scars. He will then plan to carve them on Cazador’s back so that Cazador can be sacrificed for the ritual as Astarion plans to do it for his own self. After doing the deed, Astarion will then proceed with the ritual and become the Vampire Ascendant.
You will also gain the Woe staff, plus you can check the place where Cazador stood to get the Rhapsody sword; you will see the loot icon even if his corpse isn’t there. After exiting the chamber, you will be confronted by Ulma and the monster hunters and they will fight you if you choose to side with Astarion.
Refuse to help Astarion
If you refuse, Astarion will still make his stance about the thousands of spawn that might kill several thousands more. You can persuade him (DC 18) to still go against it, and if you succeed, he won’t do the ritual, but he will still kill Cazador.
The other spawns that are not in the cells will wake up and ask Astarion what would happen next. With the Woe staff, you then get to choose on what to do with the rest of the other spawns locked in the cells:
- Kill them
- Release them to the Underdark
- Leave them in their cells
Out of all the options, releasing the spawns will gain you some help in the final part of the third act, while the other two will just gain the disapproval of some of your party members.
Interrupt the ritual
During the ritual, you can choose to stop Astarion from completing the ritual. Doing so will make your character kill Cazador. Astarion will get mad at you, then he will break the Woe staff and challenge you in a fight where you will have to kill him to win.
For both refusing to help Astarion and interrupting the ritual, Ulma and the monster hunters will meet you as well, but they won’t be hostile against you.
BG3: Astarion Personality and Preferences
Astarion has a twisted and sadistic nature which makes him enjoy choices that will inflict pain and suffering towards others. Because of how the parasite nullifies the negative sides of being a vampire, Astarion approves of any actions that would agree on using and keeping the illithid powers.
Astarion is also romanceable and to gain his approval, you will need to always have him in the party or in dialogues. If you let him suck your blood, you will gain a great amount of approval. It’s also best to leave Astarion behind whenever you think you would need to go for quests where you need to save someone or have to do a good deed as he generally would not get any approval from them, not to mention he might even disprove most of them.
BG3: Astarion Stats
Astarion is a Rogue with a Charlatan background. He is a High Elf which gives him access to High Elf cantrips, Darkvision, and Perception Proficiency. He has the following base stats:
- Str: 8
- Dex: 17
- Con: 14
- Int: 13
- Wis: 13
- Cha: 10
- Initiative: +3
After successfully recruiting Astarion, players will begin to choose which spells, classes, and gear he is best suited to use. Check out our Best Astarion build guide as such for complete details.