Can Players Become Vampires in Baldur’s Gate III?

While many backgrounds are available for players in the early access version of Baldur’s Gate III, the vampire spawn is not among them. However, Astarion, one of the many possible companions, is a vampire spawn. Having the tadpole in his head may have given him more than just one new advantage.

Players may have noticed that the tadpole has several beneficial effects on the person infected with it. For example, Drow can fight in sunny areas without disadvantages on their rolls, or vampire spawn, like Astarion, can be in the light at all. There may be even more.

How the Tadpole Effects Vampirism in Baldur’s Gate III

If a player has invested some time into the companion, Astarion, they may have discovered how vampirism works in the world of Baldur’s Gate. According to Astarion’s tales, he is a Vampire Spawn. Vampire Spawn are made from being bitten by a vampire. However, vampire spawn do not have the same abilities that a vampire possesses.

While they gain eternal life for a bit of bloodsucking, they do not have any autonomy and cannot pass on their vampirism to others. Vampire Spawn can also only become true vampires and gain those abilities by feeding on the vampire who made them. Astarion’s master was a cruel one, who abused him and made him feed on animals. As he states, and the player can tell, he is no longer under the influence of Cazador.

None of this dialogue can be unlocked until after the player catches him trying to feed on them at camp. The player can either fling Astarion off and disapprove of his actions or let him feed. In this situation, if the player consents, they will need to pass one of the three Charisma checks to get him off or he’ll kill the player from feeding. This will also give him a bonus bite attack option in combat which will give him the happy trait.

Consenting to this may consent to more than what the player may have bargained for. There are two possible situations in which Astarion can bite the player currently. The first is during the encounter discussed previously, the second is within the romance scene with him. He’ll state that his bite shouldn’t infect the player as he is still a lowly vampire spawn, however, players may think differently during the ending scene.

The ending scene of the early access is a player monologue, where they go over everything that has happened in their journey thus far and what they expect to encounter next. If the player allowed Astarion to bite them, at the very end of the monologue, they will notice that they now thirst for blood. This heavily suggests that the player will become a vampire from Astarion’s bites and that now removing the parasitic tadpole may make the player’s life much more difficult than before.

Baldur’s Gate III early access is currently available on PC.

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