Baldur’s Gate 3’s NPC romance options are more limited than players thought

Breaking news — in the latest Larian Studios Community Update, the devs shed some light on the romance options in Baldur’s Gate 3. And to sum it up, it’s sad news. But to give you a full picture of all romance options in Baldur’s Gate 3, here’s the scoop.

Note: Whether you want to play with NPCs or not, you might want to check out how to play Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer co-op.

How does romance work in Baldur’s Gate 3?

So, romance in Baldur’s Gate 3 is going to be more limited than we first thought. Since Baldur’s Gate 3 is a simulated D&D fantasy adventure, romance matters a lot to some players who want to experience deep connections or otherworldly love (or lust).

Larian Studios revealed that played Origin characters can romance NPC Origin characters. However, an NPC Origin character can’t romance another NPC Origin character, and played Origin characters can’t romance other played Origin characters.

Let’s put it into an example to make things more clear. If you are playing as Shadowheart, which makes you a played Origin character, you can romance Wyll since he’s an NPC Origin character. However, if you aren’t playing Shadowheart or Wyll, then those two NPCs can’t romance each other. Lastly, if you are playing Shadowheart and another playing else is playing Wyll, you can’t romance each other.

We aren’t sure why Larian Studios made this decision, and honestly, it’s still really vague. Can you make a custom character and temporarily control an Origin character to romance an NPC Origin character? Will NPC Origin characters still have romantic encounters but not be able to go down all romantic avenues?

You can romance any Origin character as a custom character which is good, but it seems like two custom characters can’t romance each other, which is a major bummer. I could see modders fixing this fairly quickly, so keep an eye out for that.

All known romanceable characters in Baldur’s Gate 3

• Shadowheart
• Astarion
• Wyll
• Gale
• Lae’zel
• The Dark Urge
• Karlach
• Halsin
• Minthara

Unsurprisingly, you can romance all six Origin characters: Shadowheart, Astarion, Wyll, Gale, Lae’zel, and The Dark Urge. Also, there are no restrictions when it comes to race or gender romance — if you are a female, male, or non-binary, you can romance Shadowheart, Wyll, and the rest of the gang. You can even form polyamorous relationships. Just remember, Origin characters can’t romance each other unless you select to play as one at the beginning of your campaign.

Aside from the five Origin characters, you can also romance Karlach the tiefling Barbarian, Halsin the human Druid, and Minthara the drow Paladin. You can also screw up these relationships really badly and ruin all chances at romance, so be careful and reload old saves if needed.