Who can be partnered
The romance overview lists origin companions Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Wyll, plus Halsin and Minthara. Jaheira and Minsc are not romance options. Player characters in multiplayer cannot romance each other.
A character can start romances with up to two origin companions. Later, one of them forces a choice, and only one origin romance continues. Halsin can be added if the current partner agrees. The overview says Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach may agree, and the other origin companions do not.
The tiefling party after saving the grove uses its own scripts and can queue an extra scene that night. The overview says leaving for the Mountain Pass or the Shadow-Cursed Lands can drop queued camp scenes, and it suggests extra long rests at camp before those exits.
Karlach's engine
Hot Date, the achievement for a date with Karlach, is listed on the romance overview.
Karlach's romance page says the first Dammon upgrade in Act 1 still leaves her too hot to touch properly. At Last Light Inn in Act 2, Dammon can repair the engine, and the partner scene is available on a later long rest after both upgrades. After The Chosen of Shar, that scene can no longer start. Leaving Act 2 before the scene ends the romance when Act 3 starts.
The same page marks an Act 1 night-visit scene as bugged, and treats the grove celebration as the reliable place to start the romance.
Minthara reaching the party
Patch 5 notes say Minthara still appears at Moonrise Towers if she was knocked out in Act 1.
Roster and Karlach's clock
The companion page is the cast list. Karlach's engine has its own timer inside Act 2.
What the sheet calls the rating
The bar and the word are on the summary. The number is on the detailed view when you are using a mouse. A controller, including a console, shows the word and hides the number.
| On the sheet | Detailed view | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Very Low | -49 to -40 | May leave if you disagree again. |
| Low | -39 to -20 | The relationship is in poor shape. |
| Neutral | -19 to 20 | No strong feeling either way. |
| Medium | 21 to 40 | Trust is still moving. |
| High | 41 to 60 | They approve of you. |
| Very High | 61 to 80 | Easily convinced. |
| Exceptional | 81 to 100 | The rating stops at 100. |
The night that makes a partner
You can flirt with two origin companions. One of those romances continues. The row is the night that makes the partnership, and the choice that throws the other one out.
A partial rest still plays a queued camp night, including a romance scene, and it spends no camp supplies.
Sleeping with Mizora in Act 3 ends Wyll's romance the next morning. He walks in, and the dialogue does not save it.
Sleeping with Mizora ends Minthara's romance the next morning, whatever you say to her.
| Companion | Starts | Becomes a partner |
|---|---|---|
| Astarion | An Act 1 night at 40 approval before the grove is resolved, or at either celebration if you have at most one other romance. He does not offer that night while you are flirting with Lae'zel. | An Act 2 long rest after you back him with Araj Oblodra at Moonrise. Or after Kill Raphael's Old Enemy, if you never spoke to Araj, you have visited Moonrise, and approval is at least 70. Pressuring him for Araj ends it. |
| Gale | The Weave lesson once approval is 36 or higher. Picture a kiss, or a walk hand in hand. | After the Moonrise Towers waypoint, accept the projection at his tent before the Mind Flayer Colony. Defeating Ketheric removes the invitation. Walking off the next morning drops the romance to before the flirt. |
| Karlach | The grove celebration is the reliable start. | Both engine upgrades, then a later long rest. After The Chosen of Shar that night cannot start. Leaving Act 2 before it ends the romance as Act 3 starts. Partnering someone else first ends hers, and that choice scene does not let you pick her. |
| Lae'zel | At 20 approval, after the hag, the ogres, the owlbear, or the spider matriarch with her in the party. The celebration refuses you at 19 or below, or if you are already dating two people. | An Act 2 duel after a night has passed since the first scene, and after Last Light or Moonrise. Agreeing partners her and ends the other affairs. Starting in Act 2 can skip the first night and go straight to the duel. |
| Shadowheart | The tiefling party at 20 approval, with at most one other romance. Or the line about truly connecting, at 40, if you are not already dating anyone, the party has not happened, and you have not left Act 2. | She has to enter the Shadowfell with you. The talk after the Nightsong partners you or ends it. If she spares the Nightsong, she asks to stay with you. If she kills the Nightsong, she says Shar leaves no room for anyone else, and she stays only if you insist. |
| Wyll | The tiefling celebration only. Under 10 approval, a night already promised to someone else, or two romances already open, and he refuses. A failed kiss check does not close it. Siding with the goblins makes him leave. | An Act 2 long rest, dancing, if you are dating, approval is at least 20, and you have visited Last Light or Moonrise. |
| Halsin | Not until Act 3, and only if Lift the Shadow Curse was finished before the road to Baldur's Gate. Flirting in Act 2 does not change your other romances. | Get your partner's answer before the next long rest. Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach can agree. Lae'zel, Wyll, and Gale do not. Miss that ask and his romance closes for good. |
| Minthara | The grove-raid party can be a night. The partner track starts after she joins. | At 31 approval she speaks at camp before the next long rest. Imagine her as a monster and it closes. At 50 approval, or when Ketheric falls while you are dating her and not yet committed, she takes the only partner slot and the other romances end. She does not ask first. |
Nights after the partnership
These scenes come after the partnership. Open the one for the companion you are with.
Astarion and Cazador
Astarion cannot finish the rite on his own. Helping him ascend, then agreeing to become his spawn, keeps the partnership. Refusing the spawn offer ends the romance. He usually stays in the party.
A DC 18 Persuasion check talks him out of the rite. A DC 20 Insight check, passed first, lowers that Persuasion check to 15. He stays a spawn, and the graveyard scene continues the romance. Refusing to help, or failing the check, makes him leave.
If you are wildshaped, dead, or downed, he asks a companion instead. Minthara and a Dark Justiciar Shadowheart will help him ascend. The others refuse, and he leaves the party.
Gale and the Crown of Karsus
After he reads The Annals of Karsus, the boat scene is the choice. Telling him to forget the Crown can keep the romance. Backing the Crown keeps it on that path. If he has already promised the Crown to Mystra, the same ride is his apology, and he says you are enough.
One partnered epilogue, if the Netherbrain falls, takes you with him toward godhood.
Lae'zel after Vlaakith's visit
One night after Vlaakith visits, a long rest in the Lower City is the rooftop. If Lae'zel stays loyal to Vlaakith, she ends the romance there and calls you a distraction. On the Orpheus path she asks you to stay when it is over.
Shadowheart in Act 3
If she spared the Nightsong, you learned she cannot swim, and approval is 40 or higher, she invites a swim. The nudity setting changes whether that scene shows the two of you clothed.
If she killed the Nightsong, she says Shar comes first and that her body is still yours. After the Netherbrain, a Sharran Shadowheart ends the romance. A Selûnite Shadowheart ends it if her quest was left unfinished.
Wyll and his father
If Duke Ravengard dies, at the coronation or in the Iron Throne, Wyll ends the romance at camp and asks for one last dance.
If the duke lives, talk to Wyll after a long rest. He proposes with an acorn from the Wilden Oak. Turning the proposal down takes a DC 20 Charisma or Persuasion check.
Halsin's night
The night is the next long rest, by a tree, after you have consent or no other partner. He loses control of his shape and turns into a bear. You can ask him to come back to his usual form. In the morning he treats the relationship as open.
Minthara before Orin
The first time you enter the closed Undercity ruins, she speaks before the fight with Orin. At 40 approval she calls the bond alurlssrin. Under 40 she calls it ssinssrigg, a bright thing with no promise after Orin. Telling her to get on with the task does not break it.
Dark Urge, Act 2
If Isobel is alive, Sceleritas Fel orders the Dark Urge to kill the closest companion, usually the romance. Leave that companion asleep and they are dead in the morning. The order almost always arrives unless Act 2 is finished with little or no resting after Ketheric is defeated.
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