Baldur’s Gate 3’s Astarion shouldn’t be a vampire

Astarion is the lone vampire spawn in the Baldur’s Gate 3 party, but according to D&D lore, it should be really easy to restore him to his former self.

D&D 5e vampires, like the famous Count Strahd von Zarovich, create vampire spawns when they kill people who are utterly under their control. The vampire spawn must feed on their master or wait for them to be killed to become true vampires themselves.

Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a vampire spawn who serves under the thrall of a vampire named Cazador. The mind-flayer parasite he receives in the intro not only protects him from sunlight but also gives him his free will back.

Baldur’s Gate 3 adapts D&D 5e rules into a video game format, but not everything is taken 1:1 from the tabletop game. Case in point: the way Astarion remains a vampire spawn despite the availability of resurrection magic.

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As pointed out by fans online, in D&D 5e lore & rules, if a player character is turned into a vampire or vampire spawn, they can be transformed back into their previous living state with the help of a Wish spell or by killing them and bringing them back to life.

Resurrection can be a tall order in D&D 5e, as spells like Revivify have a short window of success, while Raise Dead isn’t acquired until level 9. As Baldur’s Gate 3 is a video game, you can easily access resurrection magic through scrolls or Withers’ magical aid.

As other users in the thread pointed out, the mind-flayer parasite should also die when the character dies, but it doesn’t. The special circumstances involving the parasite and the Netherese magic surrounding it could explain why Astarion remains in his undead state.

Astarion’s role as a vampire spawn is a huge part of his storyline, especially in Act III, so it’s just as likely that the developers ignored this piece of D&D lore for the sake of the plot, much like DMs do when running the game.