Astarion Makes Another Cameo Appearance in 2025 Monster Manual

Astarion, the beloved vampire spawn rogue in Baldur's Gate 3, makes another appearance in Dungeons & Dragons' new Monster Manual. A few months ago, we reported on Astarion making a surprise cameo appearance in the Player's Handbook and how the rogue popped up in the artwork. Now, the character makes a second cameo appearance of sorts in the 2025 Monster Manual. In the entry for Vampires, Astarion is featured in a flavor quote (pun unintended.) The quote reads "Darling, you are simply delicious...," and specifies Astarion as a Vampire Spawn.

While Baldur's Gate 3 references are relatively rare in the new Core Rulebooks, players can expect to see more references to the popular video game franchise in the upcoming Forgotten Realms Adventurer's Guide, which features an entire section on Baldur's Gate. During a press event last month, D&D rules designer Jeremy Crawford noted that the upcoming Forgotten Realms books would serve as the best bridge yet for Baldur's Gate 3 players looking for a familiar entry point into the D&D tabletop game.

Wizards of the Coast has leaned on the Baldur's Gate 3 cast to promote D&D in recent months, with multiple cast members making appearances at various D&D Live shows. The next show will take place at MagicCon in March and will feature four BG3 cast members (including Astarion's voice actor Neil Newbon) playing their characters in an adventure run by Aabria Iyengar.

 

[Ogre Mage]

I wonder why certain actors are more interested in the live plays that others. Karlach and astarion are 1 and 2 but i
Wonder why the gale actor etc aren’t doing even 1/100 of those 2?

Both Neil Newbon and Samantha Beart had played D&D before they got cast in BG3. Beart first played in the late 2010s and Newbon from way back. So they probably felt comfortable.

So far as I know Tim Downie (Gale) had not played D&D before BG3.

 

[Dire Bare]

You should go back and re-read my initial post. I was never talking about the Monster Manual entry.

I read it.

You would like WotC to have done more to cross promote BG3 and D&D. Got it.

You're still complaining about Astarion's appearances in the MM, which is what this thread is all about. At least, that's how it is coming across.

 

[Valetudo]

Threads like these make me wonder how are the sales for the Solasta games. Did bg3 help them?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Threads like these make me wonder how are the sales for the Solasta games. Did bg3 help them?

Well, Solasta 2 got commissioned after BG3 was a hit, so I suspect the answer is yes. Of course the timing meant that Solasta was not directly up against BG3, but I suspect they saw a small uptick in their "tail" of sales as people coming from BG3 looked for something similar.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wonder why certain actors are more interested in the live plays that others.

Because not everyone enjoys playing D&D.

 

[talien]

I read it.

You would like WotC to have done more to cross promote BG3 and D&D. Got it.

You're still complaining about Astarion's appearances in the MM, which is what this thread is all about. At least, that's how it is coming across.

I like you both.

Mom and dad, please stop fighting.

 

[Dire Bare]

I like you both.

Mom and dad, please stop fighting.

You're right son . . .

@Whizbang Dustyboots, sorry to belabor the point. The national news in the US is such an unending stream of awful right now, I'm on edge I think.

 

[Nightfly]

For the love of Bhaal, get this stuff in front of actual BG3 players who don't play tabletop. Hiding a reference in the Monster Manual or even putting out new Forgotten Realms books isn't going to magically make them aware that you're doing this.

Too much effort. An easier way to make money is just to lay everyone off!

 

[EthanSental]

Solasta was a fun game and I’ll have to keep an eye out in 2025 for it.

I got stuck in BG3, then my laptop screen quit working so I started playing it via Xbox but got a new laptop and haven’t gotten much farther…kinda like a ttrpg campaign starting and stopping

 

[Ogre Mage]

I am interested in Solasta 2 as well. The tactical combat aspect of the original Solasta was brilliant. Hopefully the game will have better production values this time. I was obsessed with battle clerics though, lol. If the War Domain worked liked that in tabletop D&D I would definitely play it.