Baldur's Gate 3 Romance Guide: Every Companion Path Explained

Romance in Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the parts people remember most, and it's tied straight to how much your companions actually like you. There's no separate relationship meter you grind. The whole thing rides on approval, those little thumbs-up and thumbs-down pop-ups that flash in the top-left corner whenever you make a choice. Get on someone's good side and their story opens up. Tank their opinion and they might just walk out of camp for good.

So this lays out how approval actually works, when the big camp scenes fire in each act, and what each main romance path looks like start to finish. It also covers what happens when you try to juggle more than one romance at once, because the game does not let that slide for long.

Approval Gains and Losses

Every companion in your party keeps a private opinion of you, and it shifts every time you do something they care about. The number runs from -50 all the way up to 100. Talk your way through a goblin encounter with a clever lie and Astarion nudges his number up. Show mercy to someone who wronged you and Karlach's climbs right along with it. It ticks quietly in the background, and you only catch the "+1 Astarion approves" flashes unless you go digging for the real total.

Reading the Approval Bar

Open any companion's character sheet and look at the bottom of the Summary page. You'll see a colored bar with your portrait on it, which is your relationship at a glance. For the actual number, flip to the Detailed View page, where it sits between Saving Throw Bonuses and Tags. The game sorts the raw value into rough tiers, and many relationship checks only pass once you reach the right tier.

| Value | Tier | What it means | | --- | --- | --- | | -49 to -40 | Very Low | Relationship is in danger. One more bad call and they're gone. | | -39 to -20 | Low | Things are bad. Another misstep and they may walk. | | -19 to 20 | Neutral | No strong feelings either way. | | 21 to 40 | Medium | Fair. Their trust in you is shaky. | | 41 to 60 | High | Good. They approve of you. | | 61 to 80 | Very High | Very good. They're easy to talk around. | | 81 to 100 | Exceptional | They're thrilled with you and easy to sway. |

Most approval nudges are small. A typical choice swings the meter by +1, +5, or +10, depending on how big the moment is. Offhand remarks are worth a point or two. The decisions that actually shape a quest can be worth a full ten.

The cap is 100. Once a companion hits it, you stop seeing their approval flashes entirely, since there's nothing left to earn on that front.

What Companions Actually Care About

Here's the part that trips people up. Each companion has a personality, and what thrills one will often offend another in the same scene. Astarion loves when you're sneaky, cunning, or just a little ruthless. He's into power moves and people who look out for number one. Karlach is close to the opposite. She lights up for kindness, bravery, and sticking up for the little guy. Shadowheart sits somewhere in the middle, with a soft spot for faith, cynicism, and choices that flatter Shar.

So you can't please everyone at once. Push Astarion's number up by being cold-blooded and you'll probably knock Karlach's down in the exact same conversation. That's kind of the whole game. You pick a lane.

One cheap trick to watch for: casting Charm Person, Friends, or Hypnotic Pattern on a companion drops their approval by 10 when the spell wears off, no matter the difficulty. So if you've been sweet-talking someone with magic, expect a cold shoulder once it fades.

When Approval Goes Bad

Let a companion's number slide and they'll start grumbling at camp. You get two warnings along the way, one around -20 and another around -40. Ignore both and push down to -50, and they leave the party for good. They take their equipped gear with them when they go, though their story items get dumped into a backpack for you. Some companions who walk can still be coaxed back later depending on the situation, but it's a hassle.

Low approval doesn't only threaten your love life. It also makes persuasion harder on their personal quests, since the difficulty of talking them around is tied to how they feel about you. Keep approval high and they're putty. Let it crater and they dig their heels in.

Camp Scene Triggers by Act

The romance beats don't fire off quest completion alone. Most of the big moments happen back at camp, usually tied to a Long Rest. That's why the golden rule of BG3 romance is pretty simple: rest early, rest often. A lot of people under-rest because Long Rests eat camp supplies, and they end up skipping entire relationship arcs without realizing it.

Act 1: Getting It Started

Act 1 is where every origin romance begins. You pick up your companions, you talk to them around the campfire, and their numbers climb through the choices you make out in the world. A few early flags matter. Astarion's vampire bite scene is one of the big ones, and letting him feed on you bumps his approval nicely. Shadowheart has a quiet wine-sharing moment. Lae'zel might proposition you in fairly blunt terms. Gale has his Weave cut-scene.

The main gate at the end of Act 1 is the Tiefling Refugee Celebration, the party that fires after you save the Emerald Grove. This is the kickoff moment for romance. Most companions need at least Medium approval, somewhere in that 20 to 40 range, to come find you during the festivities. Astarion tends to want it a little higher, around 40, to make his move at the party.

Miss the celebration or fall short on approval and that's okay. Act 2 opens a second window.

Act 2: Locking It In

Act 2 is where a fling turns into something real. This is the act where romances get cemented. Companions open up about their past, the serious cut-scenes play out, and the relationship locks in for the back half of the game.

Shadowheart's "truly connect" scene lives here, and it only fires if you're not already tangled up with someone else. The same goes for the lock-in moments on the rest of the cast. Lae'zel's involves a sparring fight at camp. Gale's is an intimate scene tied to his arc.

And here's the catch. If you've been stringing along two romances at once, Act 2 is where the game calls you on it. One of them corners you and forces a choice. You pick one, you break it off with the other. More on that mess further down.

A relief for late starters: you can still kick off a romance in Act 2 if you somehow missed the party in Act 1. The window is open, just narrower.

Act 3: How It Wraps Up

Act 3 brings everything home. Each companion's personal quest resolves, and the romance storyline lands on its ending. Some of these are joyful. Some are bittersweet. A few hinge hard on choices you made way back, like whether Shadowheart stayed loyal to Shar or walked away from her.

By this point you're locked into whoever you committed to in Act 2, and the big final scenes play out as their arcs close. Act 3 is also where a few side flings open up, Mizora being the famous one, but those are one-offs rather than real relationships.

Don't Skip Long Rests

Can't stress this enough. A huge chunk of romance and companion dialogue requires resting. If you power through Act 1 on partial rests to hoard food, you'll burn through story triggers faster than the game can serve them, and scenes get skipped or lost entirely when you cross into a new act. When you're chasing someone, rest until there's nothing new left to say at camp. Partial rests, which skip the supplies, still advance a lot of dialogue, so use those freely between the full ones.

Astarion and Shadowheart Romance Paths

These two are the most-romanced companions in the game, and their paths are also the meatiest. Both run into a major Act 2 fork that rewrites how the rest of their story plays out.

Astarion: The Vampire Spawn

Astarion's arc is really about control, who's had it over him, and whether he gets to take it back. He's a vampire spawn who spent roughly two centuries as a plaything for a monster named Cazador, and that history leaks into everything he does.

The bite scene in Act 1 is your first real signal he's warming up. Catch him sneaking up behind you, let him drink, and his approval jumps. He'll also start flirting hard once you hit Medium approval or so, and if you're sitting around 40 by the time the Tiefling Party rolls around, he'll proposition you there.

What he likes: cunning, selfishness, and people who prize freedom and autonomy. Be sneaky, be a little mean, and stand up for the underdog only when it's the smart play. He tends to hate cruelty toward the weak for its own sake, which sounds contradictory but makes sense once you know his backstory.

His big fork lands across Acts 2 and 3, when you find out exactly what Cazador has been doing with all those vampire spawn. His personal quest comes to a head late, and you face a choice that shapes his ending. Help him refuse Cazador's power and he stays the person he's been slowly becoming. Push him toward taking it for himself and he ascends into something far colder and more dangerous. That ascended version is a different person to romance, and not a kinder one.

On the polyamory front, Astarion is one of the few who'll tolerate you bringing Halsin into the picture. He plays it off as not a big deal, more of a fling on your part, which says a fair amount about how he's processing intimacy at that stage.

Shadowheart: Shar or Selûne

Shadowheart starts out as a devoted cleric of Shar, the goddess of loss and darkness, and her whole arc is about whether she stays in that faith or breaks free of it. The romance runs right alongside that question.

She's won over early by faith, cynicism, and a touch of cruelty. She likes when you respect the gods, hers in particular, and when you steer clear of the obvious goody-two-shoes options. She softens a lot over the course of the game, though, if you nudge her gently.

Her fork is the Nightsong in Act 2, and it's a big one. Shadowheart is ordered to kill the Nightsong, and what she does changes everything. If she spares the Nightsong, she starts walking away from Shar toward Selûne, and a deeper, warmer commitment scene can open up. If she kills her, she doubles down on Shar and stays cold and devoted. The romance can survive either path if your approval is high enough, but the flavor is night and day.

One trap to avoid. If Balthazar drags the Nightsong back to Ketheric Thorm instead, Shadowheart abandons the party outright. That path basically torches her romance, so don't let it happen.

The good news is you don't always need to nail a hard persuasion check at the Nightsong confrontation. You can just ask her what she truly wants and step back. Sometimes she spares the Nightsong on her own, no roll required.

Her "truly connect" commitment scene in Act 2 only works if you're single and haven't already started something with another companion. So if Shadowheart is your target, hold off on triggering Gale's Weave scene or agreeing to spend the night with anyone else first.

Karlach and Wyll Romance Paths

These two are tangled up in each other's stories from the very start, which makes them fun to romance in the same run or apart. Both also gate their romance behind specific in-world steps you can't just talk your way past.

Karlach: The Infernal Heart

Karlach is a tiefling barbarian with a literal engine for a heart, and that engine is the gate on her romance. She runs so hot she can't safely touch anyone early on, and fixing that is a whole process.

The fix is Infernal Iron, and you feed it to Dammon, a tiefling blacksmith who's easy to walk right past. First piece goes to him in Act 1 when you find him at the Emerald Grove. The second piece comes in Act 2, after Dammon relocates to Last Light Inn. That second repair is what unlocks the scene where you can finally kiss her without her flinching away. There's a third and final step in Act 3 involving a proper forge that finishes the job.

Miss Dammon or skip the iron and the romance stalls out cold. He's never flagged as important, so make a point of tracking him down in each act.

What she likes is refreshingly straightforward. Kindness, courage, and standing up for people who can't stand up for themselves. Be decent and she'll adore you. Be cruel and she'll sour fast.

She's also one of the three who'll tolerate Halsin joining the relationship, same as Astarion and Shadowheart. And there's an achievement, Hot Date, tied to actually taking her out on a date, which is a nice little bonus. Her endings are famously emotional, and a couple of them are genuinely rough, so go in warned.

Wyll: The Blade of Frontiers

Wyll is a warlock who cut a pact with a cambion named Mizora when he was far too young to know better, and she owns him. His romance and his pact are basically the same storyline.

Early on, Mizora orders Wyll to kill Karlach. This is the first real test of his path. Spare Karlach and recruit her, and Mizora shows up at camp and punishes Wyll by giving him a big pair of horns. That change is permanent under normal play. Kill Karlach instead and Wyll gets his reward and stays human, but then, well, no Karlach for the party.

What Wyll likes is heroism, plain and simple. He's the Blade of Frontiers, a monster hunter with a code. He approves when you're brave, noble, and look out for regular folk. He disapproves of needless cruelty and selfishness. Romance him by being the kind of hero he tries to be.

In Act 2, Mizora gets herself trapped in a mindflayer pod inside Moonrise Towers. Rescuing her matters for Wyll's story. Leave her to rot and there are consequences for him down the line. Save her and the pact stays intact, and at the end of Act 2 she lifts the gag that stopped Wyll from talking about their deal, so he can finally explain himself to you.

The romance itself is sweet and a little old-fashioned. He's earnest in a cast full of schemers, which makes him a nice change of pace from the others.

A heads-up on Mizora. If Wyll's in your party, you can have a one-night stand with her in Act 3. It doesn't count as a real romance, but it can ruffle feathers back at camp, so keep that in mind before you take the offer.

Multi-Romance Consequences

BG3 lets you start more than one romance, but it does not let you keep them. The system is built around eventually forcing you to commit, with one notable exception that involves Halsin.

The Two-Romance Limit

You can kick off the early stages of romance with up to two origin companions at once. The game lets you flirt with both, queue up scenes, and play the field for a while. But this is on a timer. Sometime in Act 2, one of the two corners you and demands you choose. Pick one and you break things off with the other. There's no clean way to keep two origin companions as committed partners.

The Tiefling Party at the end of Act 1 is a weird special case. It runs on its own script that can bypass the normal relationship checks, and players have figured out you can queue two romances the same day before the party, then sneak in a third at the celebration itself. It's fiddly and a little risky, since you can accidentally skip a cut-scene if you overdo it. But it is possible to juggle three briefly before Act 2 forces the cull.

Who's Okay With Halsin

Halsin is the exception to the two-romance rule, sort of. Once you recruit him, you can invite him into a casual arrangement alongside your main partner, but only certain companions will agree to it. Astarion, Shadowheart, and Karlach are the three who'll say yes to adding Halsin. Everyone else, Gale, Lae'zel, and Wyll, will not. Try it with them and you're picking a fight.

Even the ones who agree have feelings about it. Astarion plays it cool and shrugs the Halsin thing off as nothing serious, more of a fling, which is its own kind of telling. He's outwardly fine, but you can read the subtext. Companions never start polyamory on their own, by the way. It's always you initiating.

Fling Fallout

There are also flings outside the companion roster. Haarlep, Mizora, the courtesans at Sharess' Caress, even the Emperor. None of these are real relationships, they're one-offs, but a few of them echo back into your companion romance.

Sleeping with Mizora while romancing Wyll is the obvious one, and it's awkward. The Haarlep encounter in the House of Hope has knock-on effects that go beyond just your love life. And the Emperor is its own strange thing entirely, complete with an achievement called Mind Blown for going down that road.

The short version: the game tracks who you've been with, and your committed partner often has something to say about a side trip. Sometimes it's a shrug. Sometimes it's a breakup. Read the room.

One concrete takeaway before you lock in a partner. Astarion, Shadowheart, and Karlach are the only three companions who'll agree to add Halsin on the side. So if an open arrangement is the goal, your main romance has to be with one of those three, or the whole thing falls apart the moment you ask.