Astarion From Baldur's Gate 3 Appears in the 2024 Player's Handbook

Everyone's favorite vampire rogue makes a cameo in the 2024 PHB.

astarion hed.jpg


Astarion makes a cameo appearance in the 2024 Player's Handbook, but he appears to be in a spot of trouble. An illustration showcasing the Daylight spell features the Vampiric Rogue in the 2024 Player's Handbook. In the 2024 D&D rules, the daylight spell actually has the ability to harm vampires, although Astarion has temporary immunity to sunlight due to having an illithid tadpole embedded in his brain.

I reached out to the artist of the piece, David Astruga, who confirmed that it was indeed the beloved Baldur's Gate 3 character. "Indeed! it is Astarion," Astruga said via email. "I added him on my own from the sketch of that image, and the art directors thought it was fine to leave him there as a small easter egg for those who notice. It doesn’t have any further relevance, but it's good to remember that Astarion is a Wizards character, so he could obviously appear here or there."

While Baldur's Gate 3 was a major success for Dungeons & Dragons last year, the characters from that game won't make too many other appearances in the 2024/2025 Core Rulebooks, although the mind flayer on the alt-cover of the Monster Manual bears a strong resemblance to the Emperor (a romanceable mind flayer in Baldur's Gate 3.) When asked about the possibility of other Baldur's Gate 3 characters appearing in the Monster Manual, D&D art director Josh Herman told me "We're not going to see a ton of BG III stuff in the Monster Manual in general. It also came out late enough that we were in development pretty far on a lot of things. But the alt cover, that was also a good way for us to just show that this is all D&D."

However, Wizards is leaning heavily on Baldur's Gate 3 to promote its Project Sigil VTT project, utilizing both Astarion and Karlach in promotional art for the program and bringing in their respective voice actors Neil Newbon and Samantha Beart to play their characters in a D&D Live event at Gen Con in part to showcase Project Sigil.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
When asked about the possibility of other Baldur's Gate 3 characters appearing in the Monster Manual, D&D art director Josh Herman told me "We're not going to see a ton of BG III stuff in the Monster Manual in general. It also came out late enough that we were in development pretty far on a lot of things. But the alt cover, that was also a good way for us to just show that this is all D&D."
The game was in early access in September 2020.

It really feels like, for whatever reason, the tabletop team was kept walled off from what Larian was doing. Once it was a critical darling -- at latest -- those walls should have come down, so that synergies could be put in place sooner than whenever in 2026 we're finally going to see these characters and content in an actual D&D book.
 



Queer Venger

Dungeon Master is my Daddy
this makes me happy, Astarion is my favorite party member; I don't mind at all if he sucks on me and I live for his witty repartee
 

StarkMaximum

Explorer
"DnD character shows up in DnD book" is what passes for news these days, I guess. There's gotta be a TRPG news feed out there that just doesn't report on anything Wizards does.

I just can't word this in a way that doesn't sound like I'm being a jerk, I do appreciate everything EN World does. I just wish I could filter through the pages and pages of news about every little thing about modern Wizards and focus on the news about companies and games that get much less attention.
 


"DnD character shows up in DnD book" is what passes for news these days, I guess. There's gotta be a TRPG news feed out there that just doesn't report on anything Wizards does.

I just can't word this in a way that doesn't sound like I'm being a jerk, I do appreciate everything EN World does. I just wish I could filter through the pages and pages of news about every little thing about modern Wizards and focus on the news about companies and games that get much less attention.
You're in the D&D section. It's going to be mostly Wizards in here.
 


Oofta

Legend
I haven't played Baldur's Gate III, so ...

"Romanceable mind flayer"?

I am not this game's target audience anymore. :)

It's one of many options. Not one I would personally pursue, but for some people? Poking at every nook and cranny of the game to find things most people never will is rewarding.
 

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