Non-Sexual Path for Astarion (now on Patreon)
This mod adds a new non-sexual dialogue path to Astarion's first romance night for all Tavs/Durges/Origins (besides Karlach, who already has one).
I intend on making an updated example video soon, but here's a slightly outdated one.
Known Issues:
There are a few oddities with the dialogue. For example, Astarion making some strange faces, camera/animations acting weirdly if you skip, and the dialogue not flowing perfectly. I'm working on trying to fix these, but I suspect there will be other bugs as well.
Also, Astarion might make references to your "night of passion" later in the game. It would be hard for me to fix this without causing more compatibility issues with other dialogue mods, or granting the player character a Karlach tag (which would cause its own issues). Just pretend he's joking around, I guess.
The Origin Karlach version of the scene still works, but there is a bug where Astarion repeats himself once. I'm not currently sure why this happens, but since it's not an infinite loop, it's low priority for me to fix.
List of known issues:
If you skip through the dialogue, the camera gets wacky and zooms in where it shouldn't (most notably, Tav's chest LOL). It also sometimes makes the facial animations play after the audio has already ended. If you just don't skip and let the dialogue play normally, it should be fine.
When playing as Origin Karlach, Astarion repeats some lines once. I think it's "'Just be' what, exactly? Frustrated? Bored?" "What do we do, if not... that?" that he repeats once, then continues on with the scene normally. You can still finish the scene, so it's low priority for me to fix.
Compatibility:
This mod edits the CAMP_GoblinHuntCelebration_SD_ROM_NightWithAstarion.lsf DialogsBinary and Timeline files, and will conflict with any mod that also edits those files. It's also an override mod, so if you want to disable the mod, you need to fully remove it from your Mods folder.
Mods used in screenshots:
KAVT
ASTRL Hair Color Supplement
softer hair and beard
WrinkleMapSmoother
EasyDye
AV Item Shipment Framework
Camp Clothes in the Camp Chest
All other mods are personal mods and not for public download.
FAQ:
Does this mod make Astarion/the player character asexual?
Eh, not really. The only thing it does is makes it possible to start a romance with him in Act 1 without sleeping with him. That doesn't necessarily imply that either person is asexual. There are numerous reasons why someone might not want to sleep with a partner right away. You can still choose to sleep with him later on in the game, this mod doesn't touch those scenes.
Why was this mod made?
I love Astarion, but I was always a bit unhappy that you're not even given the option to decline sex with him and still continue the romance path, unless you're Origin Karlach. The sexual paths should still work, this mod just adds a new option for those who want it and think it feels right for their character.
Yeah, but isn't this a bit out of character for Astarion? Why would he agree to start a romance if the player refuses sex?
I don't think it's out of character, personally. (Warning: yap ahead!)
The fact that Origin Karlach can romance him before her engine is fixed confirms this for me. Larian could have done the easier thing and simply made it impossible for her to start a romance with Astarion before her engine is repaired enough to have sex (it's this way with Lae'zel!). Instead, they gave them an entire unique scene to allow them to start a romance in Act 1. Why?
Well... because Act 1 Astarion doesn't actually want sex. He wants protection, and he's giving the player what he thinks they want in order to get it. In Karlach's case, he knows sex isn't on the table for her, so he makes a big fuss about how he wants it... but in the end? He's probably kinda relieved he doesn't have to sleep with her. (The devnotes in the dialogue files support this idea, too!)
I think this can be the case too for Tav/Durge/other Origins. Yeah, in vanilla we aren't given the option, but the dialogue options kind of make it seem like the player isn't interested in him at all, rather than interested in him, but not desiring sex. It's not that far-fetched to me that if the player character could somewhat explain how they feel, Astarion would understand that they're genuine about this and alter his course of manipulation a bit to no longer include sex.
I know Astarion later has genuine feelings for the player character and he's not just being manipulative, but I do think that at this point in Act 1, it's not about genuine feelings, it's about trying to gain protection in the only way he knows how--using his face and body to charm someone. And if he doesn't have to sacrifice his body to charm someone... well, after everything he's been through, I find it reasonable that he wouldn't.
He'd probably even be relieved that he could finally charm someone without forcing himself through that experience again.
If you read all that and still don't agree with me, that's fine. I'd ask that you don't come after me to make disparaging comments about me or the mod, though. No one is requiring you to download the mod or even look at it. It's okay to agree to disagree and then go find Astarion content that you agree with.
I like the idea of this mod, but the new dialogue options are a little blunt/don't sound like my character. Can you/I edit them?
It would not be possible for me to edit the options to account for all personalities, but you're welcome to unpack the mod and edit the lines to sound more like your character! Please don't re-upload this mod elsewhere, even if edited, but you're free to make personal edits.
Why are comments closed? I want to leave feedback!
Due to a few mean comments about me/this mod, I chose to close comments to save myself the stress. Please don't jump to any of my other posts that have comments open to complain about this mod. Not cool.
If you like this mod, you can leave a like to tell me you like it! If you don't like this mod, please simply do not download, and try some other mods instead.
Credits/Thanks:
magnetuning for pointing me in the right direction, getting me started on this path, writing the Dialogue Files Tutorial, and helping me so much whenever I ran into trouble! He also supported me through some of the unkind comments I received. This mod would not have been possible without Milo. <3
Kit for the BG3 DialogsBinary Node Editor, which allowed me to view the scene in a visual format and helped a ton with figuring out what went wrong with Karlach's route!
BG3 Modding Community Discord
And my Tav for listening to Astarion repeat himself 100+ times during the testing for this mod. I know you love him but that's a LOT of yapping. /lh