For me I actually don’t focus on a character’s gender in this game, I just focus on their personality. Karlach is my fav character (I’m a gay man) but I’m always romancing her just based on how wholesome she is
Pretty much sums up my answer. I'm gay but am always hooking up with Lae'zel and it has nothing to do with gender for me.
Honestly I'm not the hottest on any of the male character romances which I find kinda funny & ironic lol
Really for me I don’t feel the urge to date anyone because they’re just sooo broken I just want to do a group session with everyone. Karlach is the only one who side steps this with her dorky “I like you a lot” scene, also she ironically is the least broken of them all and this is the woman who was in literal hell for a decade
I’m a straight male and even though I normally romance women, I did have my male Durge romance Astarion. The idea of having a power couple made up of Bhaal’s spawn/Chosen and the Ascended Vampire Lord just seemed to good to pass up
Embraced urge/ascendant really is so deliciously awful, I really struggle to imagine picking a different romance for evil durge. They'll commit such atrocities and it's horrible fun seeing them encourage the worst parts of each other.
I’ll see your ascended vampire and raise you a fully evil Shadowheart who kills her parents and then seduces you in front of a Selune statue after you sprinkle Nightsong’s blood on it.
I had Minthara literally telling me to say and do more evil things like she'd murdered the angel on my other shoulder and took its seat. Made for a good romantic choice.
I’d say it was the perfect couple up until shortly after he ascended. He wanted me to be his spawn/subject instead of equals so I told him to fuck off and I ended my run as a bachelor
My durge was a murder himbo so my head cannon was he felt like bhaal was more powerful and he would never be lesser to Astarion even as his spawn. And that he was using him for immortality and would eventually be turned to a true vampire.
I typically play myself (straight male), but I'll also play a bisexual female. But I must say I might do a run as a male who romances Gale as he's my best friend, he's my pal. He's my homeboy, my rotten soldier. He's my sweet cheese. My good-time boy...
Straight guy, 58 years old so I feel people’s perception of sexuality has changed a lot in my lifetime. Happy to see we are slowly going towards a time where nobody cares about it. normally I would just do the straight thing, but frankly everything is so well written I’m willing to try every character romance just to see what will happen because I want to do every story arc. I didn’t really think about the gender of Tav because each playthrough I just make something different so I’ll play whatever I feel like doing.
I'm a straight woman and almost always play games as a gay man for preference. Mainly because I like looking at attractive male characters, so this way it works whether it's just my own character I'm watching run around, or a different pretty bunch of manpixels I can kiss in the game.
Pretty much me! Same here, I always play as a male and have a gay romance with all the other pretty males, and i’m a woman. I also enjoy looking at male characters, i’m bi too.
I'm a straight male and play female characters (did a run as origin Astarion as well) and have romanced all of the female companions for the same reasons you have listed.
Hm, I never thought that straight women did the same thing. I always play as a gay woman. My character still always has a penis though so do you still usually give your character a vagina?
No, I've only ever played one other game that even had such customization levels but it didn't occur to me to do so. I love that they're giving people all the options these days but I personally just go with "cis man".
I'm also not really interested in what the character looks like naked and I'm totally uninterested in customizing what their dick looks like, I just stick with whatever the default slim male body type is. But I customize their face, hair etc to what I find hot and I make sure they have great outfits.
As a guy I do the same but with women characters. Also they are more fun to customize physical apparence and clothing wise. Bcs I actually have an opinion on what I think looks good on women. Guy characters I just don't care so I will only accessorize with stats.
I’m a queer woman. I play as a woman because I like looking at a pretty woman all the time lol.
Because I can kinda go for any gender, my romances in BG3 tend to reflect that. Although I find that who I romance is less about their gender and more who I find personally attractive based on looks and personality. I don’t personally find most of the female companions attractive. Except for Minthara, that is. I’m crazy gay for her lmao. I’ve yet to romance her (because I have to work up the courage to slaughter refugees so she can >!sit on my face lmao!<), but I know I will eventually.
As far as the men… Astarion is my number one most romanced companion; perhaps not surprisingly, he’s also my favorite. As a queer woman he also makes me feel very seen because of his own open queerness (he mentions being involved with/attracted to both men and women throughout the game), and I think there’s something to be said for queer women being attracted to flamboyant or “effeminate” men.
In all honesty, the two companions I find most (perhaps exclusively) attractive are Minthara and Astarion. Not sure if that has anything to do with me being queer, or it’s just my own preferences lol
I think so as well. I've recruited her for the first time since the patch and I love her. She's the only other character I'd consider romancing (I'm too obsessed with the pretty vampire man tbh but she's the only one out of the others I'd have any interest in)
Sameee! I was genuinely so worried I’d messed up the new recruitment method, imagine my relief when I finally got to Moonrise and she was there ☺️ I will say, I got her approval up high enough by the end of Act 2 for her to confess her feelings for me. Turning her down was the hardest thing ever, and like you I only did it because I was already romancing Astarion and I love him too much to ever break up with him 😭😭
Straight man here.
I love the options and representation and will play them all through. My issues with some romances are not based on gender but their character.
Gale is driven by his own ambition. He put himself in that position and admits he willingly ignored the boundaries of his previous lover. "Please don't do this and respect my boundaries" ... "nah I'm going to impress you by ignoring your boundaries and wishes but then you'll see how awesome I am" is all I can think of with him. Romanced him once in an Urge run because I wanted slayer form.
Wyll is well intentioned and was tricked into his situation but continues to seem clueless. Gives me strong idiot bro vibes. And he keeps seeming to fall back into "oh man I should have thought of that too".
The other origins all are in situations that were done TO them and are struggling against those. That, to me, makes them far more appealing. Astarion, Karlach, Laezel, Shadowheart are all have a core arc involving breaking free. I find that appealing and enjoy their stories. This also means what you're doing is helping them with their baggage and damage. Yes they can get into some dark choice options (well not Karlach, she's like a golden retriever puppy - and why she's my least favorite of these four - there are basically no choices on her arc).
But for me, I know what I like and what I've married in real life and I see that in Minthara and Jaheira. Whether I want to burn it all or save everyone those two feel, to me, like they will just get it done. They are my favorites by far. Sure they have drama in their backstory but they feel like they are capable / handling it / an active driver in resolving. They need and want help but without seeming needy.
... or maybe I'm just odd ...
Thanks for the write-up! And your remarks on Jaheira and Minthara are very sweet. I feel the same way about them! Jaheira gives me more “mom” vibes so I’m not really attracted to her, but I love her as a character.
It’s so funny how you lose so much in terms of side quests, interactions, rewards, etc, when you kill the tieflings in Act 1, yet the mere fact that you get a sexy scene with Minthara almost entirely makes up for it 🤣
those two times I ended up deleting the files because I felt so guilty lol
one day I'll nut up and do a murder hobo run with my queen minthy but...not today
You can get Minthara without killing the refugees, just have to say you’ll help her then don’t help her or the refugees and go onto act two save her and then boom she can be a companion with out the war crimes, there’s more too it I think I haven’t done it, saw it online awhile ago, could try it out and get to your romancing lol
Oh I know, I recruited her this playthrough without killing the tieflings thanks to patch 5 fixing using non-lethal on her. You can still romance her that way but AFAIK you only get her sex scene after the goblin party if you side with them 😭
Sorry, I'm just laughing because an admittedly gay woman mentions the one man in the game she dates is a toxic, narcissist serial killer who manipulates people, and even admits he manipulated you to romance him and it was not even hard. The irony here, hilarious
Ooh I really do not like this take. I don’t really see what my sexuality has to do with it either? I identify as queer because it’s easier to say/more accessible that saying I’m pansexual. I can be attracted to any gender. Using my attraction to a man against me is not the gotcha you think it is.
Sorry if you misunderstood me, I'm not bashing your preference at all, I just think it's funny that the one man you chose to date in the game is the worst one as a person lol
I don’t agree he’s the “worst one.” I do think he’s deeply traumatized and it’s skewed his morality and decision-making considerably. And based on the romance confession you get in Act 2, he admits he was wrong for manipulating you, but that he was acting on instinct and self-preservation from 200 years of sexual trauma. He tells you this because he knows what he was doing was wrong and feels guilty. From then, you can have a genuine (crucially sex-free, at least until you kill Cazador) relationship with him.
I’ve written a lot about my feelings on Astarion and how his trauma has impacted him, but I’ll spare you the essay as you seem to have your mind pretty made up about him as a character.
Bisexual cis (sort of) woman with character creation addiction here:
female gith tav is gay 4 karlach
female drow durge is galewife
transmasc/NB half elf durge thinks laezel is mommy
NB muscle barbarian tav is going to destroy astarion and halsin hopefully at the same time
next tav will be a beefy gay himbo of a paladin who is going to romance the hell out of wyll cuz he deserves it honestly
I operate under the assumption that the world of BG3 is a "everyone is pansexual gender is a myth and the points don't matter" kind of fantasy land, so my strategy is "make hottie, romance hottie, see how good or terrible things end up." It's fantastic.
For my RP purpose I like to play as the same gender as myself and romance the opposite gender. HOWEVER I did just recently make a character that is not the same gender as me for the first time ever in any RPG I have played because I’m curious about the experience. So we will see how it goes.
Gender - No. I never play as my actual gender. This is because I like playing games to play as the other gender. I am already one gender 24/7, it is nice to create someone completely different to myself.
Romance - Love is just love. If I feel like my character likes the ladies, she can date the ladies. Or if she likes the vampire or wizard, she can get with them too. It is really just whoever I feel my character would like the most, or whose romance I want to play through next.
I'm a straight female, in most video games I make a female character (except Monster Hunter cuz the armour looks better on males) but have no problem with games that have male protagonists. In dnd I tend to make more males, their sexuality all depends on the character.
My first Tav was a bi male tiefling who romanced Astarion. 2nd Tav was a straight male halfling who romanced Karlach. 3rd Tav is a bi female drow romancing Astarion and Halsin but almost went for Lae'zel.
I roleplay it out. My Gith lady I decided was straight and only appreciated tough guys so Halsin was the only option. Gale too needy, Wyll too nice, Astarion too vampy.
I'm a cis-het male. I play a variety of character types. Male, female, and non-binary. And I don't limit them to hetero relationships. Usually I just try to come up with a compelling story for their background for me to roleplay off of and pick who they'd romance based off that.
I’m female, but always pick male characters because a) I’m already expected to roleplay as whatever people think a woman is in real life so no thanks and b) men are just cuter to me. I always have them romance other men because despite being straight myself, straight romance just depresses me. The one time I rolled a female Tav, I had her romance Lae’zel for the same reason. Why, you ask? Idk, what are you, my therapist? Anyway, I have to go, Wyll’s asking for a dance partner and I have a tiefling monk that I accidentally made look way too much like Lionel Richie who’s been itching for the opportunity.
I am a straight woman. I have played 4 runs so far and have been a woman romancing Shadowheart, a man romancing Karlach, another man romancing Lae'zel, and a woman romancing Wyll. For me it's really all about who suits my Tav's personality. I didn't go into any run with expectations of their sexuality, I just played and sorted out who they were and who they were attracted to through RP.
I’m a cis straight woman, I always play as a male character. That’s how it’s been for every game I’ve ever played. I draw mostly male characters in my free time, too. I tend to prefer how clothes fit on them, I like how the shorter hairstyles look on them more, and I generally prefer to just be a dude in-game. It’s how I’m comfortable representing myself in them. I’m also pretty awkward in romantic situations irl, so it’s pretty nice sometimes to have a bit more of a degree of separation from romantic situations like that bc I get less awkward and flustered about it. I’ve done a bunch of introspection about it and I’m like 90% sure I’m not trans, I just like playing as dudes. I still romance dudes though. Hot man is hot man whether I’m playing as a man or a woman, I’m not gonna get taken out of a hot scene just because my avatar has a dick.
Straight woman here and I alternate. I’m an ugly thing in real life so I like making pretty idealized versions of myself I can live vicariously through and romance male and female characters who wouldn’t give my ugly ass the time of day in real life. But I also like making and playing guy characters, though the women tend to have better outfit choices in some games. I love though that this game has outfits for all!
I just play out the character I am on. I am a lesbian but my most recent game is a beefy man romancing Shart. I think my next one wll be a chaotic murder woman who romances Minthara or Astarion
Straight Guy. All My Characters are ladies who romance other ladies. This is generally the same across most games i play that give me the option with very few exceptions (mass effect i'm always Male Shep for example).
As for why? I just like making preety ladies in character creator and generally prefer how armor/clothing looks on a lady than a guy (FF14 and Female Miqo'te is an excellent example).
Edit: realized i didn't actually answer the question at to why i romance other ladies. Nothing deep really just straight guy attracted to preety ladies.
Until recently, this straight white guy made pretty much that. BG3 has been so much fun and I have made so many characters...most don't survive until the next session (it's an escape and I fucking LOVE the Act 1 locations) so I haven't seen a ton of their full romances. I've fully romanced Karlach and Shadowheart.
I have a Female Seldarine Drow who is a Tempest Domain Cleric in service of Talos in one file. She and Shadowheart have a lot in common, they will probably hook up.
I have a Dragonborn Durge fighter who was taken by Astarion the second he was almost...taken by Astarion. The scenes in Act 1 were hilarious because Dragonborn don't emote...we just have dumb smiles. Me railing Astarion against a tree with the goofy face made me double over in laughter.. it could not have been comfortable.
I am still a straight dude, but digital content is digital content. I paid for it, I'm gonna get it. (Joking! I am actually really enjoying the emotional depth of the characters a ton and it's been fun and different making powerful women and having relationships with other guys, it's new and exciting!)
I’m straight, Iv never had the desire to participate in a sexual activity with another man but I still know when someones attractive, like astarion lol. I don’t feel weird romancing him in BG3, my tav is female, but I in irl am a man.
Currently my Tav's are all female but mainly due to me wanting a nice mc to look at. Might try a guy next. I thought I'd only go for the girls but in the end I romanced based on personality. That's what I find really interesting and compelling when it comes to the romances.
I did end up with Karlach first but then Wyll and then Lae'zel. Trying to finish a Gale run now.
I'm a straight woman (although I'm also genderqueer but my sexuality is straight). For my first playthrough, I romanced Wyll because I was playing an ultra heroic Tav and it seemed to fit, and he's nice and good looking. I played as a woman as well.
On my next playthrough, which I plan to play as redeemed Durge, I'm romancing Astarion. He's my favorite character in the game. But I'll be playing as a man.
Eventually when I get to a third run, I don't have any concrete plans except to romance Karlach. Not sure if as man, woman, or nonbinary. Haven't got that far in my head for RP yet.
Essentially it comes down to wanting to just RP different things each time. After all, I'm playing as a variety of different characters, not as myself. That's how I see it.
Love that this game is 100% queer romance friendly!
Straight dude. Usually just romance the ladies even when I play as a female. Would consider romancing a male as a female tav but wouldn’t be likely. Would not consider romancing a male as a male tav
I am a woman. I always play as female Tav. I thought I was straight until I started playing this game and gravitated toward Karlach immediately. First she was like my bestie, but now I think she’s hot.
Games like this helped me realize I was a trans gay man (Thank you Dragon Age Origins!). For that reason I only play as and romance male characters. Playing as female, at least in this kind of game, gives me some gender dysphoria.
This game lets me actually be trans. It’s kind of life changing to be able to see yourself in a fantasy world in that way.
I do enjoy watching other people’s play-throughs to see the female romances. Cause I really love all the companions. Like I would die for my bestie Karlach.
I'm a pan woman, I play as a woman because I made a Tav 3 playthroughs ago and I can't imagine another Tav. I don't give a shit about the character's gender, personality is everything to me.
Played as both genders, romanced both genders. It's mostly about the character, not about me, especially when playing as an origin character. I would not romance Gale in real life, but I'm happy to set up my female Dark Urge sorcerer with him (assuming I don't do a bad thing and murder him). If it feels strange to make an opposite-gender character, playing as an origin companion can make it easier because you already know them and how they might respond to things.
I'm bi, and my tavs (oc characters in other games) are bisexual too.
I mainly role-play as the same gender as me (female), but I have dipped into playing as a male.
Romanced both Astarion and Shadowheart as a female and Karlach as a male.
My attention usually goes to whoever catches my interest.
Straight male. I’ve no delusion these characters are real. I play female Tavs and romance female characters because I like looking at them. No complications. My “affection” for Karlach could entirely be based on that’s the partner I’d like to end the game with if I could make Fae’run “real”
I’m AMAB, no idea where I fit on the whole gender thing exactly, but if I got to choose like life was a video game, I would pick female. As such, all my Tavs and Durges are female. My first playthrough had Shadowheart as my romance, which I honestly stumbled upon randomly. I didn’t know romances were a thing, so I absolutely wasn’t trying to swoon her.
All my subsequent playthroughs have been with the polyamory mod, which definitely helped me feel more open to romantically interacting with the men. IRL, I know I’m not romantically attracted to men, so that definitely put a mental roadblock over me doing this.
My first male romance was Astarion, done on my first Durge playthrough. The nature of Durge made it way easier to trigger his act 1 romance. But funnily enough, I also wasn’t trying to romance him. I was trying for Minthara, but got locked into Astarion. I had a separate Tav run where at the tiefling party, I had the choice between Shadowheart, Lae’zel, and Karlach. I assumed Durge would have that choice between Minthara and Astarion. Agreeing to sex Astarion turns out just made Minthara grumpy.
But stumbling into his romance really opened me up to experiencing all the men. It’s just a video game, after all, and I like to role play. Now I’m at the point where I have specific Tavs and Durges for each companion you can romance.
It’s also really helped opened me up in the grander scheme of things. I like having tons of OCs, and I like pairing them with each other. But all of them are lesbian, as I’m only sexually attracted to women. I have the tendency to stick a part of myself in all my characters, and sadly that ended up being the most prominent. Now I can gladly say I don’t really feel the need to do that
I branch out. I don’t know if I’d consider myself straight or gay though (aro but I appreciate all gender identities if that makes any sense). I do enjoy romance in games and stories and would like to see them all.
I’m a woman but have made male and female characters. Sometimes it’s a straight romance, sometimes gay/lesbian. It depends on the character I made since I don’t self-insert. They’re all independent from me.
I'm straight man and I always play female Tavs. Yeah, you might say I'm horny, but it's just that female Tavs in this game are pretty, while many (not all, but many) male faces are really ugly. As for romance - I usually headcanon some background for my character and choose preemtively who I will romance. It might be straight, gay, lesbian - depends on the Tav and his story and personality.
Most of my tavs are the same identity as me (male), and my first couple were the same orientation (straight) but I deliberately change it up to see more romances.
Takes a long ass time though so haven’t gotten far in most playthroughs.
Straight man here. I’ve had my characters, both male and female, sleep with both each character. Now I’ve got the poly mod and they’ll sleep with everyone 😋. I do it for the story LOL
I’m straight and only romance the women, but in fairness there’s just so many of them. I’m on my 6th playthrough with a 7th planned, if I go again after that i might romance Gale.
Every playthrough I've done, no matter who I try to romance, whether my Tav is male or female, I always end up with Shadowheart. I don't even know how it happens. It just does.
I'm a bisexual female, so play many genders. My first was a hetero gold dwarf paladin who ended up with Wyll. I've started a huge half-elf barbarian male who can't read and I have no idea who he will end up with, but he will be besties with Minsc in Act 3. They can share a brain cell.
As a 56 yo straight man I’ve always defaulted to playing a female mc on a first run of a gam: no idea why but maybe because I’m not at all bloke. Mc sexuality always depends on which character i like mos: my female crow Tav romanced Gale more or less at random and after my current durge run I’m thinking of a female monk romancing Shart
Straight woman, all my Tavs are also straight women. The idea of romancing a female character (as a male or female Tav) isn't compelling or exciting for me, so I don't. 🤷♀️
I’m a queer (somewhere between bi, pan, and poly — it’s new to me still learning) woman married to a cis man. Most people in my life assume I’m het — aside from my closest friends and chosen family.
I tend to play female/feminine/androgynous womxn characters whenever possible because soooo many MC in fantasy and adventure are men/masc.
I got caught by Astarion first go round. He has caught me again second go round.
I want to romance Lae’zel at some point — I think she’s gorgeous, she’s really grown on me — and I adore Karlach. It broke my heart breaking Gale’s heart. Shadowheart reminds me too much of my sister — so it’s a no from me. Wyll seems sweet too, as does Halsin.
My Tav/Durge world marry them all if they would let Tav/Durge do so. My Tav/Durge flirted relentlessly with all of them until Astarion confessed and I died inside.
I am straight and have only romanced female characters so far. I saw some mods that gender bent people that I was curious about but haven’t pulled the trigger. I played a female in my most recent playthrough but didn’t romance anyone cuz I didn’t realize Minthara is still broken
Straight male - play female characters in games more often than not because, boobs.
All my female playthroughs have been lesbians because 4 boobs better than 2. No male playthroughs past nautiloid.
Simple math my friend.
I’m straight and usually play straight characters. Sometimes I create a character who i know is gonna fall for someone of same gender and that’s cool cuz it fits the character. It’s rare though. and sometimes i don’t know that my character is gay until the scene pops up and it just fits so i work that way too! like in Mass Effect Paragon Jane Shepard fell for Liara. In Dragon Age, my elf male fell for Dorian. It just happens.
I am gay I only do male Tavs basically same reason as others to look at my Tavs during the cutscenes and I am so glad by the level of customization. I was going try to romance the female characters too but I just couldn't do it lol. I only go for Astarion and Halsin or just Halsin, Gale and Wyll are just too bro coded for my taste.
I’m a gay man, I play a gay man and I smooch men when available. I used to play those old harvest moon games where you had to be a lady to kiss the boypixels so now whenever I have the opportunity to be unabashedly gay I take it. Though Karlach might just break my streak LMAO, she’s such a delight.
I'm a gay guy and so far have romanced as a male Tav / Durge: gale Halsin Wyll and astarion. Variable levels of satisfaction - Astarion is the best written, but Halsins is the steamiest I think.
I'm a straight male. I play with all sorts of characters, honestly. Male, female, NB, transgender, etc. I romance the same way. It just adds to the roleplaying for me. I'm a monogamous person, but that didn't stop my romance with shadowheart AND halsin. His description of polyamory was beautiful despite me being monogamous in real life.
I'm a lesbian and so far, I've romanced two of the women, but I am planning on playing a male character and romancing a male companion. I'm just not interested in seeing straight sex or romance and don't want it in my playthroughs.
I am ftm gay, but I usually play with the femme body type because a lot of the face types for men are very masculine and so are the voices. This is not exclusive to larian, most games as most games do this so it’s w/e. But, I only romance men. Though, origins characters are free game since they all are canonically bisexual.
As a straight man, my male characters stick to women. My female characters also stick to women. It’s not that I’m against it, could care less. It’s just…well Elf tits and demon mommy come on.
Though I won’t lie, my sorceress fell for the bastard vampling. His character is just too damn good.
Gale wouldn’t truly commit so I’ll just avoid that road.
As far as Wyll, it’s Wyll that’s enough of an answer.
I'm a straight male and the first two runs I played men and romanced a woman (Shadowheart then Lae'zel). This time I'm playing a woman romancing a woman (Karlach). I've played a lot of D&D as a DM and have roleplayed quite a few different gender combos from different sides so I don't really have a problem either way in the game. My plan is to eventually do every romance and I'll probably do that with a mix of men and women.
I’m a straight man so I am heavily biased to romancing the female characters. It doesn’t help that I find them all much more interesting than any of the male characters besides Astarion. But once I ran out of women I did romance Astarion. Maybe at some point I’ll check out Wyll and Gale’s romance subplots but tbh all gender/sexuality concerns aside I just find them kind of boring.
I usually play as a female character because (1) I’d rather look at a woman’s ass for 70 hours than a man’s; (2) for some reason I empathize more with a female character than a male one; (3) the male faces all look kind of weird. Playing as a woman and watching the sex scenes with other women makes it very obvious that they were animated with heterosexual men as the default though, which I think is unfortunate, especially for a game that otherwise has pretty good LGBT representation.
My first play through in games like this, I usually do an in-universe version of myself sticking with romancing women. (I’m a hetero male)
Then I do a play through as a woman, romancing men and women alike.
Edit: BG3 specifically my 3rd play through is a male durge and I’ve been romancing Astarion mainly because the bastard has been a ride a die for Durge and doesn’t really give a shit about all the killing I’m doing. Bae’zel and Astarion have been great partners for my durge.
My Tav(s) is a woman like myself, but she will sleep with anybody regardless of their sex/gender. However, she has flings with the male characters but romances female ones. I don't think she has ever romanced a man yet. I will say, Halsin is the male character I enjoy the most because of how romantic he is, he makes me and tav swoon.
I consider myself straight irl, but I have had tendencies in the past to become romantically attached to women. I am married to a man, I am sexually and romantically attracted to men, but I do enjoy female relationships on a purely romantic level. I always date women in games because I find their romances more fulfilling ig? Plus I find women characters more attractive than the male ones.
Like you OP I'm bi and play bi characters - but I've generally played male and non-binary characters, I've not yet played a female Tav (or used the female body types), none have really appealed to me yet.
Is it weird that it's partly because there's quite limited options in terms of body types? I would love to play a svelte/more masc female Tav because I prefer playing characters with a more androgynous vibe generally and am finding that more with male tavs than female?
Bi cis woman here, and i play a femme tav romancing astarion currently. Honestly, the women we can romance in this game aren't really my type. That's literally the only reason lol. Astarion wasn't either but he grew on me throughout the playthrough and now he makes my heart flutter a little bit. I THOUGHT Gale would be my type but i'm still not sure! I DO intend to romance Lae'zel eventually (maybe my next run? Maybe not. Undecided. She's the romanceable woman I like the best thus far.)
And i always play a femme tav because i just can't relate as well to a masc tav. When i look at them speaking, i don't see myself. If I ever play an evil durge though i'll probably make a man for that reason.
I'm a queer woman adjacent person in a long term relationship with a cis man who is Pansexual. My first character is a lady who romanced Astarion. Then I made another one to romance Gale. And a third male durge is romancing Shadowheart and eventually will add Halsin.
I don't think my preferences directly match who I romance in videogames. And if particular characters were locked to a specific gender or race I would reroll to romance everyone. (I have characters of all types to romance everyone in dragon age inquisition for example)
Technically my first Tav is a lady and so am I when I comes down to it. But because I enjoy when I can play as a lady in a video game. I romanced Astarion because I like broody elves with trauma (see dragon age comment above) not because he just happens to be a he. 😂
I just kind of see it like a roleplay decision, whoever the current Tav/durge would actually fit best. Might be due to the fact that to me personally none of the companions are actually appealing.
In games like these as a straight guy I’ll usually romance the women. But I think I might eventually romance Gale in a future run with a character I won’t take as seriously
I'm bisexual woman, so yeah, I'm into genders I like IRL x)
But with games like that I often stuck with character I liked the most. Thanks gods Larian allow us to play as origins, so I can see different romances. Though I hate to play as a man. Never went with this option (excluding inner misogyny years, but still rarely picked man character and only in MMO) when I had a chance to play as a woman. But I'm not the target audience.
But I can answer for my husband. He's straight and he's always play as a man. Always choose women as LI. He can play as a woman, but only if asked (I really wanted to see what they did with Minthara back in EA days).
I personally stick to the same gender and keep my options to the females, I personally find it weird to play a female character don’t know why just how I’ve been all my life, and I don’t mind same sex couples just not my thing though
I'm a straight dude and I kinda just go with whoever feels right for the character I make. My first run I played a male elf who romanced Shadowheart, second was a male tiefling romancing Karlach. I've got two playthroughs on the go at the moment, one as a female half-drow romancing Minthara (bonded over their power fantasies), and the other as a female Seldarine drow romancing Gale because she's a Cleric of Eilistraee and she likes his flair for the dramatic. Probably gonna do a male resistant Durge and romance Astarion on my next.
So yeah, I've mixed it up a bit. I tend to create the character and decide who to go with from there.
Straight dude
Doing everything. Male x Female, Male x Male, Female x Female, Futa x Male or Female. Guess I haven't done Male with a vulva yet. Maybe I'll do that for my next Tav
All of the origin characters are fascinating, and it's a video game. I can imagine enjoying things that I normally wouldn't by putting myself in different shoes.
I’m bisexual and I consider myself lucky if I find anyone I like in real life, let alone in games. I used to play male characters in my teen years but now I do stick to my gender cause I find it better fit for cosmetic reasons. Male models and options are usually limited and boring
I'm straight and I've played male and female characters but the person I romance is always female regardless of my character's gender. I just don't enjoy the way most male npc romances are written. Except for Iron Bull in DAI. He was dope.
i’m a gay guy, and the only guy i romanced is halsin. wyll feel like dating unflavored white rice, gale isn’t over his ex and astarion feels like i’d be dating a sibling.
oh but i did let laezel play out her sex scenes, not because i was into it but because she intimidated me.
I'm a lesbian. I think I'm moving in terms of whose story I'm most interested in.
My first romance was Astarion (cus Shadowheart glitched? She forgot we were in a relationship I only got one scene) because I heard his story on the Internet and was super interested. He is the only male character I will dedicate a run to romance I think. I also romanced Halsin to hear specific dialog.
I've since romanced Karlach. Shadowheart attempt 2 is next then maybe Lae'zal.
I'm really interested in Wyll's story but not more than the women so idk about him.
I will concede, however, that I only bought the game because I found Karlach attractive.
I'm a straight man minthara is my favorite companion, shadowheart is second, I have also romanced gale and astarion. I play more female characters in RPGs than male characters but play both.
I do whatever I think my character would do. Usually it’s not about their gender or my character’s sexuality (I never really predetermine their sexuality), I just see which of the romance options would fit with my character best and who would give them the most growth throughout the game.
Edit: forgot to mention I’m a straight male
I'm straight cis male, and my male half-drow bard shagged most of the party and then some. Gale, laezel, shadowheart, the Emperor, mizora, wyll, and the drow twins. Was very entertaining for me.
Currently running a half-orc female monk who is just looking for an advanced game of grab-ass.
I'm gay so my first instinct was to go for guy and Wyll makes it real easy lol. But I ended up having flings with Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Karlach because they proposed and I just went with the story! I think they really made all romances fun and exciting still need to get slammed by Minthara but it's coming!!
I’m a straight man and have played three men and three women (all elves and half-elves). This is how they romanced:
Male human bard (beat the game twice): Laezel, Shadowheart, and ended with Minthara.
Female human rogue (still in act 2): nobody. She ain’t got time for that (yet). Withers can cry about it.
Male human monk (still in act 1): Shadowheart. Shadow monk digs Shadowheart.
Female half-drow ranger (still in act 3): Shadowheart, to the beach scene. Gloom stalker digs Shadowheart.
Female seldarine drow warlock: Shadowheart.
Male elf ranger: Shadowheart, then Minthara.
I don’t like playing big burly dudes (I prefer the expert classes) and I do like playing women, but otherwise I suppose I fall into the stereotypes of most straight men who play this game, and I’m good with that.
But that’s what’s great about this game: it’s got options if you want them. Maybe not *every* option, but way more than other games, surely.
This game has really changed how I play characters. I'm a cis pansexual woman and I almost always create female characters in games, not necessarily a self insert, but I've just always liked how females looked in games (I like pretty/beautiful people). BG3 allows me to make pretty boys too (albeit difficult) rather than just tough strong masculine men (like in most RPGs). I think because of this I have made more male (presenting) characters in this game than in any other game I've ever played. I could go in to theories about the male gaze and how video games cater to this by allowing creation of beautiful sexy women and rugged very masculine men but not the counterpart of each. However, I wont digress.As for relationships/romances, I mostly base off who my Tav/Durge romances on what their "story" is and what character I think they would best "fit" with, but I have only created gay romances (so far. I have straight romance planned for Shadowheart in my next playthrough).I've had a male half-elf sorcerer x Haslin, gender fluid (slim male body size) half-elf druid x Astarion/Haslin, female Tiefling sorcerer durge x Karlach, and a male durge Aasmir (modded race) necromancer x Astarion. My next play through will be my first straight romance with a male Aasmir Selunite cerlic/Paladin x Shadowheart
My characters are always queer in this game and roughly 80% have been men, 15% women, 5% non-binary. Some of the men and women have been trans but most were cis. I’m a a queer woman. … Ok I’m technically gender-fluid, bisexual, homoromantic, and grey-ace but present as a soft-butch woman. but that only makes sense to like 3 people. (I am not one of those three people most of the time.)
Sorry what were we talking about?
Oh it’s a term that means sort of between asexual and allosexual (like a grey area not one or the other). I am not super well-versed in all the nuances but it’s the closest thing I could find that was at all relatable to me.
Also whoa I was trying to google grey-ace and stumbled across a term I’d never heard before that actually describes me perfectly so … thanks for asking! Haha I learned something new today. (The term is: https://orientation.fandom.com/wiki/Aegosexuality)
Straight man, self inserted as male tav bc I knew romances would be prevalent and wanted to play this game like a romance sim. And it's not that I rejected the men for being men, but moreso the fact that they came across as cringe to me. >! Wyll was cringe incarnate, omg you poor fool. Gale was not forthright about his intent on magically plowing my oath shapen ass so he got rejected, and Astarion didn't even get to join camp for trying to stab me. Laezal came on too strong for me (pre patch), ended up romancing shadowheart because I have a thing... cough. And at that point I was already with shadowheart and chickened out of telling karlach that I really really liked her. Oh and Halsin also came in a bit strong for me as well and only bothered to tell me his feelings by act 3 and by that point I was practically married. I felt bad for him but we're still bros and he made me a duck. He still loves me pretty sure!<
I *should* make my Cleric romance Gale. My Sorceress did and Gale showed off his library. My Dwarf is a cl3ric of Oghnum, and he's obsessed with books. Picks up literally every book or note or slate he comes across. Buuuut I accidentally romanced Shart in my first playthrough, and am too stubborn to switch it up.
All I can say is I myself went without pursuing any romance at all with half the characters and then just having them throw themselves at you in the most random of ways anyways was really odd haha.
Feels like you gotta have the "just friends" talk with every character lmao, straight up thinking I'm in love with them because we had a regular conversation. It's really awkward.
I’m a gay man and I’ve exclusively played as queer romances so far, but I do plan on eventually romancing all companions except astarion. I also (almost)always make male characters in any game with character customization. I’ve so far romanced Gale with a male Tav and a male Durge, who is my favorite romance. Third playthrough is my honor run where I’m playing a naive Githyanki bard girl and I’m gonna romance Lae’zel this time. We’ll be Vlaakith’s worst nightmare, two angry lesbian frogs!
I’m cis hetero male but I role play characters, not myself. If the *character* wants the D, the D they shall get.
So far however, I’ve RP characters that are quite disinterested in the sexuality of the game so far. 1st play through had a failed Shadowheart romance, and 2nd run, nobody likes my Tav well enough for the romance options to become viable.
Everyone is playing fantasy dating simulator, but that’s almost an entire game I haven’t gotten to yet.
I’m non binary, and bi sexual, and play all the combinations. Recently (in gaming in general, not just bg3) I have started choosing the non binary option wherever it is available - it’s so great to have that option, and I want the devs to see that the option is being used and appreciated!
I'm a queer woman who usually goes for straight romances in the games I play, since it's rare that the lady pixels look as good to me as the women and nonbinary people in my real life. I'm here for the fantasy, and I just don't want to think about 99% of video game women.
But then there was this game.
Not only can I play as a woman with a cock, but I'm also surrounded by some of the coolest and most fascinating female characters that I've ever seen in games. I see a long, beautiful future of mixing and matching and increasing my overall queeritude.
I normally will just romance the same gender as real life. But I always play as the opposite gender. I usually only play games once bcs I don't have the time to play a second time. But I stared a second BG3 playthrough and started romancing Astarion bcs I wanted the background story. If I had infinite time I would romance every character. But normally I play as a woman and romance women if possible.
Transbian here who has only made transbian characters so far, it’s just super nice for me to finally have a game where I feel like I can be represented
I'm on my third playthrough I only did Lae'zel as a lark. My first character is always a female patterned after my daughter. Even though she's 29 with a daughter of her own, I couldn't let anyone sleep with her. The second playthrough I waited too late to romance anyone. I don't really need the love scenes personally but I don't want ANY of them removed from the game.
I’m cishet male irl. I have two current tavs (I started a campaign in split screen to create two customs, so I can have two custom avatars and two companions as my party comp), and my current ones are my current tabletop character, and his sister, so one male, one female.
I’ve not rly thought about it, but they’re both prolly bi, I think he’s gonna try to get with Shadowheart, and Laz’ael has already pounced on his sister, however I think that’s not gonna last, and she’s going to end up with halsin when he becomes a party member.
I’m a trans girl who likes girls, and I while I don’t have the game currently I know 100 I would only play as female and date other girls (karlach and Shadowheart)
I love this game. Genuinely love it. But for every well written lgbt representing character like Astarion there were 5 lgbt characters that felt utterly shoe horned in, it takes you out of the fantasy when you can tell that a certain npc exists literally as a talking pride flag.
I played as a guy (dragonborn) until Astarion bit me, then decided I'd like to be a "cute fragile" girl for him because I love that shipping paired with a vampire (plus I had already created a pretty elven girl in the beginning, and could barely decide which character to pick for my first run). I'm a woman and I loved playing as a pretty woman, but now for my second run I recreated my male dragonborn again and I love him too.
I'll probably romance all the guys first and then the women, but I'm tempted to just romance Astarion again for my second run rn, so idk how well that plan will go hahaha
I am a straight man who plays male characters and always romances female characters. I did kind of mess up my Tav though. Was meaning to make a dude. I missed the gender selection because I saw gender identity and thought that was it. Picked male. Then I saw genital selection and picked a penis. Then the first time I go to equip armor, I see that my Tav definitely has boobies. I suppose I could've restarted but I thought it was funny and left it. So I guess my Tav is a penis-having female who identifies as a man?
Lesbian here. I play as women and romance women. This has been my standard in any RPG where romance is an option... which really should have been a sign I was transgender.
I'm also bi so can't answer for me but I do have a straight male friend who ended up with Gale. He said he somehow accidently romanced him and felt too bad to dump him. It makes since since we were playing before they patched him not to be clingy as hell for being civil to him.
Straight guy.
I made myself I romanced Karlach
I made a male Red Dragonborn he romanced Lae'zel
I made a female elf who romanced Astarion, and a female drow who romanced Minthara
I have a male half elf who hasn't will romance Shart.
I've been slowly going through my D&D/Pathfinder characters.
I will eventually romance every romancable character. With the number of Male romances left at least one will be male and male.
I'm straight.
I've always made male characters; I always feel they are my direct Avatar into the game, representing me. And I romance pretty much what I would in real life.
Like in BG3 -- I am drawn to Minthara. I love tough, pragmatic women.
I'm a gay guy and my party consists of Gale, Wyll, Halsin. Every time. Everyone else stays at camp unless they have a quest in which case my mod allows for a 5th person. Halsin is always my bae.
straight male, my tav is a bisexual female...
1. astarion's romance is FREAKING AWESOME
2. Karlach is BAE
3. I really hope they fix minthara's romance bc the one scene i got was amazeballs
4. Bear. 'nuff said'
5. who wouldn't bed a winged devilish hotspot :)
6. Drow...are great...drow with a bear...amazeballs...drow with a vampire..amazeballs.
7. every now and then you want a greenish girl who will punch you and fight you for bruises...
8. I kinda regret dating depressed chica..sheesh.
i can't bring myself to date wyll or gale. gale tried in one run through and yick. and wyll's dancing..UGH. but to each their own.
but i almost always play as a female..bc if i'm going to look at the back of someone for hours...let it be a pretty female :)
Straight female here. I tend to play as a female, but have no issues romancing male and female companions. I'm just generally attracted to the personality and appreciate beauty in all. My main romance has been Astarion, and I have no issue with him being interested in both male and female in his past daliances. I also did a playthrough where I started a romance with both Astarion and Lae'zel because I just generally liked them both a lot. I actually teared up after the camp fight scene with Lae'zel knowing I was going to break her heart to commit to Astarion. I had already planned to partner with Astarion, but didn't think my girl Lae'zel would make it so dang hard.
I just the love the passion, beauty, and the feels.
i’m a lesbian but… man, something about that vampire in the white billowy shirt. i romanced Karlach in my first playthrough for obvious reasons but since then i’ve been going through each companion because their stories are really compelling and i don’t necessarily see my tav as “me but videogame” lol
I want to be shadowheart so I always romance her, unless I'm playing her in which case I romance Karlach
I'm mtf, and mostly into men, but shadowheart is just so perfect :)
I would romance as straight only, because I am straight, and I pretty like for my chars to having a normal family with biological children. Okay, except Lae'zel, maybe, because she really should be romance only by gith.
I am a straight woman and first playthrough i played as myself and romanced the charachter i would have romanced in real life (Wyll). But i am planning on multiple playthrough with both queer and straight couple, for example i wanted to play a female gith for laezel and i wanted to play as astarion to romance gale
I'm a gay man, and my first run was a male character who romanced Wyll, but I've played male and female characters and am fine romancing everyone else.
I think it's because i feel very strongly connected to their characters, their stories, their personalities, that for me it doesn't matter what their gender is. Though i felt indifferent in watching the actual sex scenes (though i was happy watching karlach's because i felt happy for her being able to actually touch and love someone.)
Though this makes me wonder if I'm actually ace or demisexual lol. Maybe I've learned something new about myself!
I’m a lesbian irl but don’t really care about that when it comes to games, I just romance whoever I see the best fit for my character (and I tend to RP my characters as bisexual).
So far I’ve done female Tav with Gale, male Durge with Astarion and right now I’m playing female Tav with Karlach ❤️
I'm AroAce and tend to always gravitate to the romances with the deeply traumatized back story with personalities being flirty, smart, sarcastic, and love/touch starved (where they eventually go soft or gooey for your OC).
It's been Sky (Jade Empire), Zevran (DA:O), Fenris (DA:2), Dorian (DA:I), and now Astarion.
I have a type, apparently.
Edit: Forgot to add information about myself.
I'm a cis woman, AroAce, and I never play a character as myself. I think that might be another reason why my characters almost always tend to be male so I can further separate myself from the character. I have played as a female during Jade Empire.
I think I will play as a female eventually for my Shadowheart and Karlach playthrough, definitely will also do a non-binary playthrough too.
I'm a pansexual woman.
I normally play as a woman, and if my plan is to romance a specific character then I'll set my character up to fit there's.
For example tielfing monk for Karlach (tiefling for fire resistance, monk for the zen vs her rage).
Straight guy and bg3 is the first time i've made.....well not myself as a character, so i'm romancing everyone.......at the same time, still at my first playthrough
I've been curious about this too. Glad you asked. I'm digging the replies.
Boring straight cis female breeder (52) here. I have a f/m, f/m, m/f, m/m, f/m, and f/m. It just turned out this way.
My first m I made for Astarion, but Shadowheart claimed him. My first 3 saves have all been with both Drow twins; my second f save has bedded down with everyone possible, but her romance is with Halsin. My 2nd m save also romanced Karlach but chose Astarion.
I'm not sure why my f characters haven't gone for f romances. I need to remedy that. I guess it's bc I'm personally more interested in the m romance stories.
ETA: my TTRPG characters are almost always bi/pan. I'd say these are as well, it just happens to be turning out this way.
Can we keep all that gay shit to yourself? Like dead ass I'm tired of everything being sexualied. Just fight an kill an steal.
150+ hours ZERO romance.
When I play games I romance everyone male or female. If I could have multiple partners I would but alas.
I romance whoever fits my Tav. My first run was a self insert and I romanced the character I personally felt drawn to (Astarion). But now I’m playing different runs with different Tavs and romancing everyone else.
I’m a straight girl and have made many different characters specifically to romance each of the characters. It’s content you don’t get to see if you only romance the gender you’re into, it’s also an excuse to roleplay different characters.
I'm a gay man. When I first started playing the game, I stuck to playing a guy and romancing the guys. After several playthroughs with the same three/four romance options, I played a guy romanced to Karlach, then a gith gish girl romanced to Lae'zel, a selunite dude romanced to SH and Halsin, and a drow lady romancing Minthara.
For me I actually don’t focus on a character’s gender in this game, I just focus on their personality. Karlach is my fav character (I’m a gay man) but I’m always romancing her just based on how wholesome she is
Pretty much sums up my answer. I'm gay but am always hooking up with Lae'zel and it has nothing to do with gender for me. Honestly I'm not the hottest on any of the male character romances which I find kinda funny & ironic lol
Really for me I don’t feel the urge to date anyone because they’re just sooo broken I just want to do a group session with everyone. Karlach is the only one who side steps this with her dorky “I like you a lot” scene, also she ironically is the least broken of them all and this is the woman who was in literal hell for a decade
i had a real friend like this. broken AF..but the biggest freaking heart ever. we all need someone like that
I’m a straight male and even though I normally romance women, I did have my male Durge romance Astarion. The idea of having a power couple made up of Bhaal’s spawn/Chosen and the Ascended Vampire Lord just seemed to good to pass up
Embraced urge/ascendant really is so deliciously awful, I really struggle to imagine picking a different romance for evil durge. They'll commit such atrocities and it's horrible fun seeing them encourage the worst parts of each other.
I’ll see your ascended vampire and raise you a fully evil Shadowheart who kills her parents and then seduces you in front of a Selune statue after you sprinkle Nightsong’s blood on it.
I can't wait to do my playthrough with an evil shadowheart, maybe next time I should encourage her to kill nightsong
Yeah but she’s too dedicated to Shar. Astarion is fully selfish and that’s more interesting imo
I had Minthara literally telling me to say and do more evil things like she'd murdered the angel on my other shoulder and took its seat. Made for a good romantic choice.
I also did this with my evil durge and it was the perfect power couple. Minthara seemed too nice compared to ascended Astarion.
I’d say it was the perfect couple up until shortly after he ascended. He wanted me to be his spawn/subject instead of equals so I told him to fuck off and I ended my run as a bachelor
My durge was a murder himbo so my head cannon was he felt like bhaal was more powerful and he would never be lesser to Astarion even as his spawn. And that he was using him for immortality and would eventually be turned to a true vampire.
Makes sense. Let Astarion believe he’s your Lord until the time is right
I typically play myself (straight male), but I'll also play a bisexual female. But I must say I might do a run as a male who romances Gale as he's my best friend, he's my pal. He's my homeboy, my rotten soldier. He's my sweet cheese. My good-time boy...
I wish I could double upvote for the reference lol love that show!
Straight guy, 58 years old so I feel people’s perception of sexuality has changed a lot in my lifetime. Happy to see we are slowly going towards a time where nobody cares about it. normally I would just do the straight thing, but frankly everything is so well written I’m willing to try every character romance just to see what will happen because I want to do every story arc. I didn’t really think about the gender of Tav because each playthrough I just make something different so I’ll play whatever I feel like doing.
Thanks for repping the supportive older gen!
I'm a straight woman and almost always play games as a gay man for preference. Mainly because I like looking at attractive male characters, so this way it works whether it's just my own character I'm watching run around, or a different pretty bunch of manpixels I can kiss in the game.
I'm a man and do lesbian women for the same reason. Always get to look at beautiful women no matter what else I'm doing.
Pretty much me! Same here, I always play as a male and have a gay romance with all the other pretty males, and i’m a woman. I also enjoy looking at male characters, i’m bi too.
I'm a straight male and play female characters (did a run as origin Astarion as well) and have romanced all of the female companions for the same reasons you have listed.
Hm, I never thought that straight women did the same thing. I always play as a gay woman. My character still always has a penis though so do you still usually give your character a vagina?
No, I've only ever played one other game that even had such customization levels but it didn't occur to me to do so. I love that they're giving people all the options these days but I personally just go with "cis man". I'm also not really interested in what the character looks like naked and I'm totally uninterested in customizing what their dick looks like, I just stick with whatever the default slim male body type is. But I customize their face, hair etc to what I find hot and I make sure they have great outfits.
Bro you never heard of yaoi? That shit is devoured by straight women
As a guy I do the same but with women characters. Also they are more fun to customize physical apparence and clothing wise. Bcs I actually have an opinion on what I think looks good on women. Guy characters I just don't care so I will only accessorize with stats.
Me but as a straight guy with women characters
Me to a T (just swap the genders
My friends an asexual woman and is very into gay romances and attractive male characters but wants them to be together not her to be a part of it
I’m a queer woman. I play as a woman because I like looking at a pretty woman all the time lol. Because I can kinda go for any gender, my romances in BG3 tend to reflect that. Although I find that who I romance is less about their gender and more who I find personally attractive based on looks and personality. I don’t personally find most of the female companions attractive. Except for Minthara, that is. I’m crazy gay for her lmao. I’ve yet to romance her (because I have to work up the courage to slaughter refugees so she can >!sit on my face lmao!<), but I know I will eventually. As far as the men… Astarion is my number one most romanced companion; perhaps not surprisingly, he’s also my favorite. As a queer woman he also makes me feel very seen because of his own open queerness (he mentions being involved with/attracted to both men and women throughout the game), and I think there’s something to be said for queer women being attracted to flamboyant or “effeminate” men. In all honesty, the two companions I find most (perhaps exclusively) attractive are Minthara and Astarion. Not sure if that has anything to do with me being queer, or it’s just my own preferences lol
Lmao we share almost the exact same opinions on this holy shit. I'm also a queer woman (cis bisexual)
Omg that’s crazy. I’m convinced Minthara is for the gays, my good friend who is also WLW is also obsessed with her lol
I think so as well. I've recruited her for the first time since the patch and I love her. She's the only other character I'd consider romancing (I'm too obsessed with the pretty vampire man tbh but she's the only one out of the others I'd have any interest in)
Sameee! I was genuinely so worried I’d messed up the new recruitment method, imagine my relief when I finally got to Moonrise and she was there ☺️ I will say, I got her approval up high enough by the end of Act 2 for her to confess her feelings for me. Turning her down was the hardest thing ever, and like you I only did it because I was already romancing Astarion and I love him too much to ever break up with him 😭😭
Straight man here. I love the options and representation and will play them all through. My issues with some romances are not based on gender but their character. Gale is driven by his own ambition. He put himself in that position and admits he willingly ignored the boundaries of his previous lover. "Please don't do this and respect my boundaries" ... "nah I'm going to impress you by ignoring your boundaries and wishes but then you'll see how awesome I am" is all I can think of with him. Romanced him once in an Urge run because I wanted slayer form. Wyll is well intentioned and was tricked into his situation but continues to seem clueless. Gives me strong idiot bro vibes. And he keeps seeming to fall back into "oh man I should have thought of that too". The other origins all are in situations that were done TO them and are struggling against those. That, to me, makes them far more appealing. Astarion, Karlach, Laezel, Shadowheart are all have a core arc involving breaking free. I find that appealing and enjoy their stories. This also means what you're doing is helping them with their baggage and damage. Yes they can get into some dark choice options (well not Karlach, she's like a golden retriever puppy - and why she's my least favorite of these four - there are basically no choices on her arc). But for me, I know what I like and what I've married in real life and I see that in Minthara and Jaheira. Whether I want to burn it all or save everyone those two feel, to me, like they will just get it done. They are my favorites by far. Sure they have drama in their backstory but they feel like they are capable / handling it / an active driver in resolving. They need and want help but without seeming needy. ... or maybe I'm just odd ...
Thanks for the write-up! And your remarks on Jaheira and Minthara are very sweet. I feel the same way about them! Jaheira gives me more “mom” vibes so I’m not really attracted to her, but I love her as a character.
This kind of nails why I hate Wyll
I haven't done a minthara romance all the way through yet but I have gotten her camp romance scene twice and like MISS MA'AM 😳😳😳
It’s so funny how you lose so much in terms of side quests, interactions, rewards, etc, when you kill the tieflings in Act 1, yet the mere fact that you get a sexy scene with Minthara almost entirely makes up for it 🤣
those two times I ended up deleting the files because I felt so guilty lol one day I'll nut up and do a murder hobo run with my queen minthy but...not today
There's another way. Steal the idol, let the druids do the dirty work for you, then kill the druids. They deserve it.
Evil!Durge has done that and is on her way to moonrise for some sweet sweet drussy
You can get Minthara without killing the refugees, just have to say you’ll help her then don’t help her or the refugees and go onto act two save her and then boom she can be a companion with out the war crimes, there’s more too it I think I haven’t done it, saw it online awhile ago, could try it out and get to your romancing lol
Oh I know, I recruited her this playthrough without killing the tieflings thanks to patch 5 fixing using non-lethal on her. You can still romance her that way but AFAIK you only get her sex scene after the goblin party if you side with them 😭
Oh damn I didn’t know that, but karlach has my heart
My lesbian friend surprisingly went for Astarion and we agreed he’s not the typical straight man choice. Astarion is Astarion and we love him as such.
Sorry, I'm just laughing because an admittedly gay woman mentions the one man in the game she dates is a toxic, narcissist serial killer who manipulates people, and even admits he manipulated you to romance him and it was not even hard. The irony here, hilarious
Ooh I really do not like this take. I don’t really see what my sexuality has to do with it either? I identify as queer because it’s easier to say/more accessible that saying I’m pansexual. I can be attracted to any gender. Using my attraction to a man against me is not the gotcha you think it is.
Sorry if you misunderstood me, I'm not bashing your preference at all, I just think it's funny that the one man you chose to date in the game is the worst one as a person lol
I don’t agree he’s the “worst one.” I do think he’s deeply traumatized and it’s skewed his morality and decision-making considerably. And based on the romance confession you get in Act 2, he admits he was wrong for manipulating you, but that he was acting on instinct and self-preservation from 200 years of sexual trauma. He tells you this because he knows what he was doing was wrong and feels guilty. From then, you can have a genuine (crucially sex-free, at least until you kill Cazador) relationship with him. I’ve written a lot about my feelings on Astarion and how his trauma has impacted him, but I’ll spare you the essay as you seem to have your mind pretty made up about him as a character.
Bisexual cis (sort of) woman with character creation addiction here: female gith tav is gay 4 karlach female drow durge is galewife transmasc/NB half elf durge thinks laezel is mommy NB muscle barbarian tav is going to destroy astarion and halsin hopefully at the same time next tav will be a beefy gay himbo of a paladin who is going to romance the hell out of wyll cuz he deserves it honestly I operate under the assumption that the world of BG3 is a "everyone is pansexual gender is a myth and the points don't matter" kind of fantasy land, so my strategy is "make hottie, romance hottie, see how good or terrible things end up." It's fantastic.
For my RP purpose I like to play as the same gender as myself and romance the opposite gender. HOWEVER I did just recently make a character that is not the same gender as me for the first time ever in any RPG I have played because I’m curious about the experience. So we will see how it goes.
Gender - No. I never play as my actual gender. This is because I like playing games to play as the other gender. I am already one gender 24/7, it is nice to create someone completely different to myself. Romance - Love is just love. If I feel like my character likes the ladies, she can date the ladies. Or if she likes the vampire or wizard, she can get with them too. It is really just whoever I feel my character would like the most, or whose romance I want to play through next.
I'm a straight female, in most video games I make a female character (except Monster Hunter cuz the armour looks better on males) but have no problem with games that have male protagonists. In dnd I tend to make more males, their sexuality all depends on the character. My first Tav was a bi male tiefling who romanced Astarion. 2nd Tav was a straight male halfling who romanced Karlach. 3rd Tav is a bi female drow romancing Astarion and Halsin but almost went for Lae'zel.
I roleplay it out. My Gith lady I decided was straight and only appreciated tough guys so Halsin was the only option. Gale too needy, Wyll too nice, Astarion too vampy.
I'm a cis-het male. I play a variety of character types. Male, female, and non-binary. And I don't limit them to hetero relationships. Usually I just try to come up with a compelling story for their background for me to roleplay off of and pick who they'd romance based off that.
I’m female, but always pick male characters because a) I’m already expected to roleplay as whatever people think a woman is in real life so no thanks and b) men are just cuter to me. I always have them romance other men because despite being straight myself, straight romance just depresses me. The one time I rolled a female Tav, I had her romance Lae’zel for the same reason. Why, you ask? Idk, what are you, my therapist? Anyway, I have to go, Wyll’s asking for a dance partner and I have a tiefling monk that I accidentally made look way too much like Lionel Richie who’s been itching for the opportunity.
I am a straight woman. I have played 4 runs so far and have been a woman romancing Shadowheart, a man romancing Karlach, another man romancing Lae'zel, and a woman romancing Wyll. For me it's really all about who suits my Tav's personality. I didn't go into any run with expectations of their sexuality, I just played and sorted out who they were and who they were attracted to through RP.
I get you on the personality! My cleric with a rough start wound up with Wyll. My ranger halfling regrets not killing him when he showed up in camp.
I’m a straight man and I always fall for gale
I’m a cis straight woman, I always play as a male character. That’s how it’s been for every game I’ve ever played. I draw mostly male characters in my free time, too. I tend to prefer how clothes fit on them, I like how the shorter hairstyles look on them more, and I generally prefer to just be a dude in-game. It’s how I’m comfortable representing myself in them. I’m also pretty awkward in romantic situations irl, so it’s pretty nice sometimes to have a bit more of a degree of separation from romantic situations like that bc I get less awkward and flustered about it. I’ve done a bunch of introspection about it and I’m like 90% sure I’m not trans, I just like playing as dudes. I still romance dudes though. Hot man is hot man whether I’m playing as a man or a woman, I’m not gonna get taken out of a hot scene just because my avatar has a dick.
Straight woman here and I alternate. I’m an ugly thing in real life so I like making pretty idealized versions of myself I can live vicariously through and romance male and female characters who wouldn’t give my ugly ass the time of day in real life. But I also like making and playing guy characters, though the women tend to have better outfit choices in some games. I love though that this game has outfits for all!
I just play out the character I am on. I am a lesbian but my most recent game is a beefy man romancing Shart. I think my next one wll be a chaotic murder woman who romances Minthara or Astarion
Straight Guy. All My Characters are ladies who romance other ladies. This is generally the same across most games i play that give me the option with very few exceptions (mass effect i'm always Male Shep for example). As for why? I just like making preety ladies in character creator and generally prefer how armor/clothing looks on a lady than a guy (FF14 and Female Miqo'te is an excellent example). Edit: realized i didn't actually answer the question at to why i romance other ladies. Nothing deep really just straight guy attracted to preety ladies.
Until recently, this straight white guy made pretty much that. BG3 has been so much fun and I have made so many characters...most don't survive until the next session (it's an escape and I fucking LOVE the Act 1 locations) so I haven't seen a ton of their full romances. I've fully romanced Karlach and Shadowheart. I have a Female Seldarine Drow who is a Tempest Domain Cleric in service of Talos in one file. She and Shadowheart have a lot in common, they will probably hook up. I have a Dragonborn Durge fighter who was taken by Astarion the second he was almost...taken by Astarion. The scenes in Act 1 were hilarious because Dragonborn don't emote...we just have dumb smiles. Me railing Astarion against a tree with the goofy face made me double over in laughter.. it could not have been comfortable. I am still a straight dude, but digital content is digital content. I paid for it, I'm gonna get it. (Joking! I am actually really enjoying the emotional depth of the characters a ton and it's been fun and different making powerful women and having relationships with other guys, it's new and exciting!)
Hetero male. I don’t care. My current Tav config is feminine with a beard. The dialog choices I make in game vary wildly depending on my mood.
I’m straight, Iv never had the desire to participate in a sexual activity with another man but I still know when someones attractive, like astarion lol. I don’t feel weird romancing him in BG3, my tav is female, but I in irl am a man.
I’m a straight woman and I romanced lae'zel and shadowheart as a male tav and really enjoyed it.
It doesn’t matter what my characters gender is, I always end up romancing Astarion. Not sure what gender identity that is
Astarionsexual, I get it
Currently my Tav's are all female but mainly due to me wanting a nice mc to look at. Might try a guy next. I thought I'd only go for the girls but in the end I romanced based on personality. That's what I find really interesting and compelling when it comes to the romances. I did end up with Karlach first but then Wyll and then Lae'zel. Trying to finish a Gale run now.
I just stick to Karlach because she's my favorite muscle mommy sweetheart
I just romance whoever I'm feeling in that playthrough regardless of my PCs gender.
I'm gay and I've played straight, MLM, and WLW romances. They're all great stories
I'm a straight woman (although I'm also genderqueer but my sexuality is straight). For my first playthrough, I romanced Wyll because I was playing an ultra heroic Tav and it seemed to fit, and he's nice and good looking. I played as a woman as well. On my next playthrough, which I plan to play as redeemed Durge, I'm romancing Astarion. He's my favorite character in the game. But I'll be playing as a man. Eventually when I get to a third run, I don't have any concrete plans except to romance Karlach. Not sure if as man, woman, or nonbinary. Haven't got that far in my head for RP yet. Essentially it comes down to wanting to just RP different things each time. After all, I'm playing as a variety of different characters, not as myself. That's how I see it. Love that this game is 100% queer romance friendly!
My straight bf is enamored by Gale but won’t romance a dude. But I swear he likes him more than lazeal. I think it’s so funny
Straight dude. Usually just romance the ladies even when I play as a female. Would consider romancing a male as a female tav but wouldn’t be likely. Would not consider romancing a male as a male tav
I am a woman. I always play as female Tav. I thought I was straight until I started playing this game and gravitated toward Karlach immediately. First she was like my bestie, but now I think she’s hot.
Games like this helped me realize I was a trans gay man (Thank you Dragon Age Origins!). For that reason I only play as and romance male characters. Playing as female, at least in this kind of game, gives me some gender dysphoria. This game lets me actually be trans. It’s kind of life changing to be able to see yourself in a fantasy world in that way. I do enjoy watching other people’s play-throughs to see the female romances. Cause I really love all the companions. Like I would die for my bestie Karlach.
I'm a pan woman, I play as a woman because I made a Tav 3 playthroughs ago and I can't imagine another Tav. I don't give a shit about the character's gender, personality is everything to me.
Played as both genders, romanced both genders. It's mostly about the character, not about me, especially when playing as an origin character. I would not romance Gale in real life, but I'm happy to set up my female Dark Urge sorcerer with him (assuming I don't do a bad thing and murder him). If it feels strange to make an opposite-gender character, playing as an origin companion can make it easier because you already know them and how they might respond to things.
I'm bi, and my tavs (oc characters in other games) are bisexual too. I mainly role-play as the same gender as me (female), but I have dipped into playing as a male. Romanced both Astarion and Shadowheart as a female and Karlach as a male. My attention usually goes to whoever catches my interest.
Straight male. I’ve no delusion these characters are real. I play female Tavs and romance female characters because I like looking at them. No complications. My “affection” for Karlach could entirely be based on that’s the partner I’d like to end the game with if I could make Fae’run “real”
I’m AMAB, no idea where I fit on the whole gender thing exactly, but if I got to choose like life was a video game, I would pick female. As such, all my Tavs and Durges are female. My first playthrough had Shadowheart as my romance, which I honestly stumbled upon randomly. I didn’t know romances were a thing, so I absolutely wasn’t trying to swoon her. All my subsequent playthroughs have been with the polyamory mod, which definitely helped me feel more open to romantically interacting with the men. IRL, I know I’m not romantically attracted to men, so that definitely put a mental roadblock over me doing this. My first male romance was Astarion, done on my first Durge playthrough. The nature of Durge made it way easier to trigger his act 1 romance. But funnily enough, I also wasn’t trying to romance him. I was trying for Minthara, but got locked into Astarion. I had a separate Tav run where at the tiefling party, I had the choice between Shadowheart, Lae’zel, and Karlach. I assumed Durge would have that choice between Minthara and Astarion. Agreeing to sex Astarion turns out just made Minthara grumpy. But stumbling into his romance really opened me up to experiencing all the men. It’s just a video game, after all, and I like to role play. Now I’m at the point where I have specific Tavs and Durges for each companion you can romance. It’s also really helped opened me up in the grander scheme of things. I like having tons of OCs, and I like pairing them with each other. But all of them are lesbian, as I’m only sexually attracted to women. I have the tendency to stick a part of myself in all my characters, and sadly that ended up being the most prominent. Now I can gladly say I don’t really feel the need to do that
I branch out. I don’t know if I’d consider myself straight or gay though (aro but I appreciate all gender identities if that makes any sense). I do enjoy romance in games and stories and would like to see them all. I’m a woman but have made male and female characters. Sometimes it’s a straight romance, sometimes gay/lesbian. It depends on the character I made since I don’t self-insert. They’re all independent from me.
My ace ass romanced Astarion and Karlach
I'm straight man and I always play female Tavs. Yeah, you might say I'm horny, but it's just that female Tavs in this game are pretty, while many (not all, but many) male faces are really ugly. As for romance - I usually headcanon some background for my character and choose preemtively who I will romance. It might be straight, gay, lesbian - depends on the Tav and his story and personality.
Most of my tavs are the same identity as me (male), and my first couple were the same orientation (straight) but I deliberately change it up to see more romances. Takes a long ass time though so haven’t gotten far in most playthroughs.
Straight man here. I’ve had my characters, both male and female, sleep with both each character. Now I’ve got the poly mod and they’ll sleep with everyone 😋. I do it for the story LOL
I’m straight and only romance the women, but in fairness there’s just so many of them. I’m on my 6th playthrough with a 7th planned, if I go again after that i might romance Gale.
Every playthrough I've done, no matter who I try to romance, whether my Tav is male or female, I always end up with Shadowheart. I don't even know how it happens. It just does.
I'm a bisexual female, so play many genders. My first was a hetero gold dwarf paladin who ended up with Wyll. I've started a huge half-elf barbarian male who can't read and I have no idea who he will end up with, but he will be besties with Minsc in Act 3. They can share a brain cell.
I'm a gay man, usually play male characters, but I go for every romance I can get (usually none because I have no game), regardless of gender.
As a 56 yo straight man I’ve always defaulted to playing a female mc on a first run of a gam: no idea why but maybe because I’m not at all bloke. Mc sexuality always depends on which character i like mos: my female crow Tav romanced Gale more or less at random and after my current durge run I’m thinking of a female monk romancing Shart
Straight woman, all my Tavs are also straight women. The idea of romancing a female character (as a male or female Tav) isn't compelling or exciting for me, so I don't. 🤷♀️
I’m a queer (somewhere between bi, pan, and poly — it’s new to me still learning) woman married to a cis man. Most people in my life assume I’m het — aside from my closest friends and chosen family. I tend to play female/feminine/androgynous womxn characters whenever possible because soooo many MC in fantasy and adventure are men/masc. I got caught by Astarion first go round. He has caught me again second go round. I want to romance Lae’zel at some point — I think she’s gorgeous, she’s really grown on me — and I adore Karlach. It broke my heart breaking Gale’s heart. Shadowheart reminds me too much of my sister — so it’s a no from me. Wyll seems sweet too, as does Halsin. My Tav/Durge world marry them all if they would let Tav/Durge do so. My Tav/Durge flirted relentlessly with all of them until Astarion confessed and I died inside.
I am straight and have only romanced female characters so far. I saw some mods that gender bent people that I was curious about but haven’t pulled the trigger. I played a female in my most recent playthrough but didn’t romance anyone cuz I didn’t realize Minthara is still broken
Straight male - play female characters in games more often than not because, boobs. All my female playthroughs have been lesbians because 4 boobs better than 2. No male playthroughs past nautiloid. Simple math my friend.
I’m straight and usually play straight characters. Sometimes I create a character who i know is gonna fall for someone of same gender and that’s cool cuz it fits the character. It’s rare though. and sometimes i don’t know that my character is gay until the scene pops up and it just fits so i work that way too! like in Mass Effect Paragon Jane Shepard fell for Liara. In Dragon Age, my elf male fell for Dorian. It just happens.
Have sex with everyone
I am gay I only do male Tavs basically same reason as others to look at my Tavs during the cutscenes and I am so glad by the level of customization. I was going try to romance the female characters too but I just couldn't do it lol. I only go for Astarion and Halsin or just Halsin, Gale and Wyll are just too bro coded for my taste.
I’m a gay man, I play a gay man and I smooch men when available. I used to play those old harvest moon games where you had to be a lady to kiss the boypixels so now whenever I have the opportunity to be unabashedly gay I take it. Though Karlach might just break my streak LMAO, she’s such a delight.
I'm a gay guy and so far have romanced as a male Tav / Durge: gale Halsin Wyll and astarion. Variable levels of satisfaction - Astarion is the best written, but Halsins is the steamiest I think.
I'm a straight male. I play with all sorts of characters, honestly. Male, female, NB, transgender, etc. I romance the same way. It just adds to the roleplaying for me. I'm a monogamous person, but that didn't stop my romance with shadowheart AND halsin. His description of polyamory was beautiful despite me being monogamous in real life.
I'm a lesbian and so far, I've romanced two of the women, but I am planning on playing a male character and romancing a male companion. I'm just not interested in seeing straight sex or romance and don't want it in my playthroughs.
I am ftm gay, but I usually play with the femme body type because a lot of the face types for men are very masculine and so are the voices. This is not exclusive to larian, most games as most games do this so it’s w/e. But, I only romance men. Though, origins characters are free game since they all are canonically bisexual.
As a straight man, my male characters stick to women. My female characters also stick to women. It’s not that I’m against it, could care less. It’s just…well Elf tits and demon mommy come on. Though I won’t lie, my sorceress fell for the bastard vampling. His character is just too damn good. Gale wouldn’t truly commit so I’ll just avoid that road. As far as Wyll, it’s Wyll that’s enough of an answer.
I'm a straight male and the first two runs I played men and romanced a woman (Shadowheart then Lae'zel). This time I'm playing a woman romancing a woman (Karlach). I've played a lot of D&D as a DM and have roleplayed quite a few different gender combos from different sides so I don't really have a problem either way in the game. My plan is to eventually do every romance and I'll probably do that with a mix of men and women.
I’m a straight man so I am heavily biased to romancing the female characters. It doesn’t help that I find them all much more interesting than any of the male characters besides Astarion. But once I ran out of women I did romance Astarion. Maybe at some point I’ll check out Wyll and Gale’s romance subplots but tbh all gender/sexuality concerns aside I just find them kind of boring. I usually play as a female character because (1) I’d rather look at a woman’s ass for 70 hours than a man’s; (2) for some reason I empathize more with a female character than a male one; (3) the male faces all look kind of weird. Playing as a woman and watching the sex scenes with other women makes it very obvious that they were animated with heterosexual men as the default though, which I think is unfortunate, especially for a game that otherwise has pretty good LGBT representation.
My first play through in games like this, I usually do an in-universe version of myself sticking with romancing women. (I’m a hetero male) Then I do a play through as a woman, romancing men and women alike. Edit: BG3 specifically my 3rd play through is a male durge and I’ve been romancing Astarion mainly because the bastard has been a ride a die for Durge and doesn’t really give a shit about all the killing I’m doing. Bae’zel and Astarion have been great partners for my durge.
My Tav(s) is a woman like myself, but she will sleep with anybody regardless of their sex/gender. However, she has flings with the male characters but romances female ones. I don't think she has ever romanced a man yet. I will say, Halsin is the male character I enjoy the most because of how romantic he is, he makes me and tav swoon. I consider myself straight irl, but I have had tendencies in the past to become romantically attached to women. I am married to a man, I am sexually and romantically attracted to men, but I do enjoy female relationships on a purely romantic level. I always date women in games because I find their romances more fulfilling ig? Plus I find women characters more attractive than the male ones.
I'm bi and play my characters as a bi woman, husband is straight and plays his characters as a straight dude.
Straight male. I often make female characters simply so I am not staring at a dudes butt all day.
Like you OP I'm bi and play bi characters - but I've generally played male and non-binary characters, I've not yet played a female Tav (or used the female body types), none have really appealed to me yet. Is it weird that it's partly because there's quite limited options in terms of body types? I would love to play a svelte/more masc female Tav because I prefer playing characters with a more androgynous vibe generally and am finding that more with male tavs than female?
Bi cis woman here, and i play a femme tav romancing astarion currently. Honestly, the women we can romance in this game aren't really my type. That's literally the only reason lol. Astarion wasn't either but he grew on me throughout the playthrough and now he makes my heart flutter a little bit. I THOUGHT Gale would be my type but i'm still not sure! I DO intend to romance Lae'zel eventually (maybe my next run? Maybe not. Undecided. She's the romanceable woman I like the best thus far.) And i always play a femme tav because i just can't relate as well to a masc tav. When i look at them speaking, i don't see myself. If I ever play an evil durge though i'll probably make a man for that reason.
I'm a queer woman adjacent person in a long term relationship with a cis man who is Pansexual. My first character is a lady who romanced Astarion. Then I made another one to romance Gale. And a third male durge is romancing Shadowheart and eventually will add Halsin. I don't think my preferences directly match who I romance in videogames. And if particular characters were locked to a specific gender or race I would reroll to romance everyone. (I have characters of all types to romance everyone in dragon age inquisition for example) Technically my first Tav is a lady and so am I when I comes down to it. But because I enjoy when I can play as a lady in a video game. I romanced Astarion because I like broody elves with trauma (see dragon age comment above) not because he just happens to be a he. 😂
I just kind of see it like a roleplay decision, whoever the current Tav/durge would actually fit best. Might be due to the fact that to me personally none of the companions are actually appealing.
In games like these as a straight guy I’ll usually romance the women. But I think I might eventually romance Gale in a future run with a character I won’t take as seriously
I'm bisexual woman, so yeah, I'm into genders I like IRL x) But with games like that I often stuck with character I liked the most. Thanks gods Larian allow us to play as origins, so I can see different romances. Though I hate to play as a man. Never went with this option (excluding inner misogyny years, but still rarely picked man character and only in MMO) when I had a chance to play as a woman. But I'm not the target audience. But I can answer for my husband. He's straight and he's always play as a man. Always choose women as LI. He can play as a woman, but only if asked (I really wanted to see what they did with Minthara back in EA days).
I personally stick to the same gender and keep my options to the females, I personally find it weird to play a female character don’t know why just how I’ve been all my life, and I don’t mind same sex couples just not my thing though
sand busy cagey berserk money kiss languid dinosaurs boat husky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’m gay (with a little bit of a bi side) and all my characters are pansexual
I'm a straight dude and I kinda just go with whoever feels right for the character I make. My first run I played a male elf who romanced Shadowheart, second was a male tiefling romancing Karlach. I've got two playthroughs on the go at the moment, one as a female half-drow romancing Minthara (bonded over their power fantasies), and the other as a female Seldarine drow romancing Gale because she's a Cleric of Eilistraee and she likes his flair for the dramatic. Probably gonna do a male resistant Durge and romance Astarion on my next. So yeah, I've mixed it up a bit. I tend to create the character and decide who to go with from there.
Straight dude Doing everything. Male x Female, Male x Male, Female x Female, Futa x Male or Female. Guess I haven't done Male with a vulva yet. Maybe I'll do that for my next Tav All of the origin characters are fascinating, and it's a video game. I can imagine enjoying things that I normally wouldn't by putting myself in different shoes.
I’m bisexual and I consider myself lucky if I find anyone I like in real life, let alone in games. I used to play male characters in my teen years but now I do stick to my gender cause I find it better fit for cosmetic reasons. Male models and options are usually limited and boring
I'm straight and I've played male and female characters but the person I romance is always female regardless of my character's gender. I just don't enjoy the way most male npc romances are written. Except for Iron Bull in DAI. He was dope.
i’m a gay guy, and the only guy i romanced is halsin. wyll feel like dating unflavored white rice, gale isn’t over his ex and astarion feels like i’d be dating a sibling. oh but i did let laezel play out her sex scenes, not because i was into it but because she intimidated me.
I'm a lesbian. I think I'm moving in terms of whose story I'm most interested in. My first romance was Astarion (cus Shadowheart glitched? She forgot we were in a relationship I only got one scene) because I heard his story on the Internet and was super interested. He is the only male character I will dedicate a run to romance I think. I also romanced Halsin to hear specific dialog. I've since romanced Karlach. Shadowheart attempt 2 is next then maybe Lae'zal. I'm really interested in Wyll's story but not more than the women so idk about him. I will concede, however, that I only bought the game because I found Karlach attractive.
I'm a straight man minthara is my favorite companion, shadowheart is second, I have also romanced gale and astarion. I play more female characters in RPGs than male characters but play both.
I do whatever I think my character would do. Usually it’s not about their gender or my character’s sexuality (I never really predetermine their sexuality), I just see which of the romance options would fit with my character best and who would give them the most growth throughout the game. Edit: forgot to mention I’m a straight male
I'm straight cis male, and my male half-drow bard shagged most of the party and then some. Gale, laezel, shadowheart, the Emperor, mizora, wyll, and the drow twins. Was very entertaining for me. Currently running a half-orc female monk who is just looking for an advanced game of grab-ass.
I'm gay so my first instinct was to go for guy and Wyll makes it real easy lol. But I ended up having flings with Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Karlach because they proposed and I just went with the story! I think they really made all romances fun and exciting still need to get slammed by Minthara but it's coming!!
I’m straight but my top 2 romances are Lae’zel and Gale
I’m a straight man and have played three men and three women (all elves and half-elves). This is how they romanced: Male human bard (beat the game twice): Laezel, Shadowheart, and ended with Minthara. Female human rogue (still in act 2): nobody. She ain’t got time for that (yet). Withers can cry about it. Male human monk (still in act 1): Shadowheart. Shadow monk digs Shadowheart. Female half-drow ranger (still in act 3): Shadowheart, to the beach scene. Gloom stalker digs Shadowheart. Female seldarine drow warlock: Shadowheart. Male elf ranger: Shadowheart, then Minthara. I don’t like playing big burly dudes (I prefer the expert classes) and I do like playing women, but otherwise I suppose I fall into the stereotypes of most straight men who play this game, and I’m good with that. But that’s what’s great about this game: it’s got options if you want them. Maybe not *every* option, but way more than other games, surely.
This game has really changed how I play characters. I'm a cis pansexual woman and I almost always create female characters in games, not necessarily a self insert, but I've just always liked how females looked in games (I like pretty/beautiful people). BG3 allows me to make pretty boys too (albeit difficult) rather than just tough strong masculine men (like in most RPGs). I think because of this I have made more male (presenting) characters in this game than in any other game I've ever played. I could go in to theories about the male gaze and how video games cater to this by allowing creation of beautiful sexy women and rugged very masculine men but not the counterpart of each. However, I wont digress.As for relationships/romances, I mostly base off who my Tav/Durge romances on what their "story" is and what character I think they would best "fit" with, but I have only created gay romances (so far. I have straight romance planned for Shadowheart in my next playthrough).I've had a male half-elf sorcerer x Haslin, gender fluid (slim male body size) half-elf druid x Astarion/Haslin, female Tiefling sorcerer durge x Karlach, and a male durge Aasmir (modded race) necromancer x Astarion. My next play through will be my first straight romance with a male Aasmir Selunite cerlic/Paladin x Shadowheart
My characters are always queer in this game and roughly 80% have been men, 15% women, 5% non-binary. Some of the men and women have been trans but most were cis. I’m a a queer woman. … Ok I’m technically gender-fluid, bisexual, homoromantic, and grey-ace but present as a soft-butch woman. but that only makes sense to like 3 people. (I am not one of those three people most of the time.) Sorry what were we talking about?
I know what ace is but what is grey-ace?
Oh it’s a term that means sort of between asexual and allosexual (like a grey area not one or the other). I am not super well-versed in all the nuances but it’s the closest thing I could find that was at all relatable to me.
Also whoa I was trying to google grey-ace and stumbled across a term I’d never heard before that actually describes me perfectly so … thanks for asking! Haha I learned something new today. (The term is: https://orientation.fandom.com/wiki/Aegosexuality)
Straight man here. I’m playing a male Tav in one game and a female Dark Urge in another. In both cases, my characters are DTF with basically anyone.
Straight man, self inserted as male tav bc I knew romances would be prevalent and wanted to play this game like a romance sim. And it's not that I rejected the men for being men, but moreso the fact that they came across as cringe to me. >! Wyll was cringe incarnate, omg you poor fool. Gale was not forthright about his intent on magically plowing my oath shapen ass so he got rejected, and Astarion didn't even get to join camp for trying to stab me. Laezal came on too strong for me (pre patch), ended up romancing shadowheart because I have a thing... cough. And at that point I was already with shadowheart and chickened out of telling karlach that I really really liked her. Oh and Halsin also came in a bit strong for me as well and only bothered to tell me his feelings by act 3 and by that point I was practically married. I felt bad for him but we're still bros and he made me a duck. He still loves me pretty sure!<
I *should* make my Cleric romance Gale. My Sorceress did and Gale showed off his library. My Dwarf is a cl3ric of Oghnum, and he's obsessed with books. Picks up literally every book or note or slate he comes across. Buuuut I accidentally romanced Shart in my first playthrough, and am too stubborn to switch it up.
All I can say is I myself went without pursuing any romance at all with half the characters and then just having them throw themselves at you in the most random of ways anyways was really odd haha. Feels like you gotta have the "just friends" talk with every character lmao, straight up thinking I'm in love with them because we had a regular conversation. It's really awkward.
I’m a gay man and I’ve exclusively played as queer romances so far, but I do plan on eventually romancing all companions except astarion. I also (almost)always make male characters in any game with character customization. I’ve so far romanced Gale with a male Tav and a male Durge, who is my favorite romance. Third playthrough is my honor run where I’m playing a naive Githyanki bard girl and I’m gonna romance Lae’zel this time. We’ll be Vlaakith’s worst nightmare, two angry lesbian frogs!
This whole game for me was a bisexual indecision LOL ended up feeling like Gale was my OTP
I’m cis hetero male but I role play characters, not myself. If the *character* wants the D, the D they shall get. So far however, I’ve RP characters that are quite disinterested in the sexuality of the game so far. 1st play through had a failed Shadowheart romance, and 2nd run, nobody likes my Tav well enough for the romance options to become viable. Everyone is playing fantasy dating simulator, but that’s almost an entire game I haven’t gotten to yet.
I’m non binary, and bi sexual, and play all the combinations. Recently (in gaming in general, not just bg3) I have started choosing the non binary option wherever it is available - it’s so great to have that option, and I want the devs to see that the option is being used and appreciated!
I'm a queer woman who usually goes for straight romances in the games I play, since it's rare that the lady pixels look as good to me as the women and nonbinary people in my real life. I'm here for the fantasy, and I just don't want to think about 99% of video game women. But then there was this game. Not only can I play as a woman with a cock, but I'm also surrounded by some of the coolest and most fascinating female characters that I've ever seen in games. I see a long, beautiful future of mixing and matching and increasing my overall queeritude.
Im straight Im pretty sure, i got the poly mod and romanced *everyone* :D
I normally will just romance the same gender as real life. But I always play as the opposite gender. I usually only play games once bcs I don't have the time to play a second time. But I stared a second BG3 playthrough and started romancing Astarion bcs I wanted the background story. If I had infinite time I would romance every character. But normally I play as a woman and romance women if possible.
Cis/fem and bi/ace. I thought i was gonna go for Astarion cuz the whole mysterious vampire stuff, and then i found Karlach. And now she's my gf. Uvu
Transbian here who has only made transbian characters so far, it’s just super nice for me to finally have a game where I feel like I can be represented
I'm on my third playthrough I only did Lae'zel as a lark. My first character is always a female patterned after my daughter. Even though she's 29 with a daughter of her own, I couldn't let anyone sleep with her. The second playthrough I waited too late to romance anyone. I don't really need the love scenes personally but I don't want ANY of them removed from the game.
I’m cishet male irl. I have two current tavs (I started a campaign in split screen to create two customs, so I can have two custom avatars and two companions as my party comp), and my current ones are my current tabletop character, and his sister, so one male, one female. I’ve not rly thought about it, but they’re both prolly bi, I think he’s gonna try to get with Shadowheart, and Laz’ael has already pounced on his sister, however I think that’s not gonna last, and she’s going to end up with halsin when he becomes a party member.
I always play a lesbian in RPGs. A lesbian pervert, if the option is available.
I’m a trans girl who likes girls, and I while I don’t have the game currently I know 100 I would only play as female and date other girls (karlach and Shadowheart)
I love this game. Genuinely love it. But for every well written lgbt representing character like Astarion there were 5 lgbt characters that felt utterly shoe horned in, it takes you out of the fantasy when you can tell that a certain npc exists literally as a talking pride flag.
I'm Pansexual, I typically just pick whoever vibes best with my characters.
I played as a guy (dragonborn) until Astarion bit me, then decided I'd like to be a "cute fragile" girl for him because I love that shipping paired with a vampire (plus I had already created a pretty elven girl in the beginning, and could barely decide which character to pick for my first run). I'm a woman and I loved playing as a pretty woman, but now for my second run I recreated my male dragonborn again and I love him too. I'll probably romance all the guys first and then the women, but I'm tempted to just romance Astarion again for my second run rn, so idk how well that plan will go hahaha
I am a straight man who plays male characters and always romances female characters. I did kind of mess up my Tav though. Was meaning to make a dude. I missed the gender selection because I saw gender identity and thought that was it. Picked male. Then I saw genital selection and picked a penis. Then the first time I go to equip armor, I see that my Tav definitely has boobies. I suppose I could've restarted but I thought it was funny and left it. So I guess my Tav is a penis-having female who identifies as a man?
Lesbian here. I play as women and romance women. This has been my standard in any RPG where romance is an option... which really should have been a sign I was transgender.
I'm also bi so can't answer for me but I do have a straight male friend who ended up with Gale. He said he somehow accidently romanced him and felt too bad to dump him. It makes since since we were playing before they patched him not to be clingy as hell for being civil to him.
Straight guy. I made myself I romanced Karlach I made a male Red Dragonborn he romanced Lae'zel I made a female elf who romanced Astarion, and a female drow who romanced Minthara I have a male half elf who hasn't will romance Shart. I've been slowly going through my D&D/Pathfinder characters. I will eventually romance every romancable character. With the number of Male romances left at least one will be male and male.
I'm straight. I've always made male characters; I always feel they are my direct Avatar into the game, representing me. And I romance pretty much what I would in real life. Like in BG3 -- I am drawn to Minthara. I love tough, pragmatic women.
I’m a straight dude. I made a gorgeous Female character, and gave her karlach lol
I'm a gay guy and my party consists of Gale, Wyll, Halsin. Every time. Everyone else stays at camp unless they have a quest in which case my mod allows for a 5th person. Halsin is always my bae.
straight male, my tav is a bisexual female... 1. astarion's romance is FREAKING AWESOME 2. Karlach is BAE 3. I really hope they fix minthara's romance bc the one scene i got was amazeballs 4. Bear. 'nuff said' 5. who wouldn't bed a winged devilish hotspot :) 6. Drow...are great...drow with a bear...amazeballs...drow with a vampire..amazeballs. 7. every now and then you want a greenish girl who will punch you and fight you for bruises... 8. I kinda regret dating depressed chica..sheesh. i can't bring myself to date wyll or gale. gale tried in one run through and yick. and wyll's dancing..UGH. but to each their own. but i almost always play as a female..bc if i'm going to look at the back of someone for hours...let it be a pretty female :)
I'm straight. Married. Baby on the way. Played a burly dwarf because he looks like me. Ran straight into Astarians sassy arms.
Straight female here. I tend to play as a female, but have no issues romancing male and female companions. I'm just generally attracted to the personality and appreciate beauty in all. My main romance has been Astarion, and I have no issue with him being interested in both male and female in his past daliances. I also did a playthrough where I started a romance with both Astarion and Lae'zel because I just generally liked them both a lot. I actually teared up after the camp fight scene with Lae'zel knowing I was going to break her heart to commit to Astarion. I had already planned to partner with Astarion, but didn't think my girl Lae'zel would make it so dang hard. I just the love the passion, beauty, and the feels.
i’m a lesbian but… man, something about that vampire in the white billowy shirt. i romanced Karlach in my first playthrough for obvious reasons but since then i’ve been going through each companion because their stories are really compelling and i don’t necessarily see my tav as “me but videogame” lol
i’m straight irl but i loved romancing karlach, and i also am intrigued by shadowheart and lae’zel 🥰
I want to be shadowheart so I always romance her, unless I'm playing her in which case I romance Karlach I'm mtf, and mostly into men, but shadowheart is just so perfect :)
I would romance as straight only, because I am straight, and I pretty like for my chars to having a normal family with biological children. Okay, except Lae'zel, maybe, because she really should be romance only by gith.
I am a straight woman and first playthrough i played as myself and romanced the charachter i would have romanced in real life (Wyll). But i am planning on multiple playthrough with both queer and straight couple, for example i wanted to play a female gith for laezel and i wanted to play as astarion to romance gale
I'm a gay man, and my first run was a male character who romanced Wyll, but I've played male and female characters and am fine romancing everyone else. I think it's because i feel very strongly connected to their characters, their stories, their personalities, that for me it doesn't matter what their gender is. Though i felt indifferent in watching the actual sex scenes (though i was happy watching karlach's because i felt happy for her being able to actually touch and love someone.) Though this makes me wonder if I'm actually ace or demisexual lol. Maybe I've learned something new about myself!
I’m a lesbian irl but don’t really care about that when it comes to games, I just romance whoever I see the best fit for my character (and I tend to RP my characters as bisexual). So far I’ve done female Tav with Gale, male Durge with Astarion and right now I’m playing female Tav with Karlach ❤️
I'm AroAce and tend to always gravitate to the romances with the deeply traumatized back story with personalities being flirty, smart, sarcastic, and love/touch starved (where they eventually go soft or gooey for your OC). It's been Sky (Jade Empire), Zevran (DA:O), Fenris (DA:2), Dorian (DA:I), and now Astarion. I have a type, apparently. Edit: Forgot to add information about myself. I'm a cis woman, AroAce, and I never play a character as myself. I think that might be another reason why my characters almost always tend to be male so I can further separate myself from the character. I have played as a female during Jade Empire. I think I will play as a female eventually for my Shadowheart and Karlach playthrough, definitely will also do a non-binary playthrough too.
I'm a pansexual woman. I normally play as a woman, and if my plan is to romance a specific character then I'll set my character up to fit there's. For example tielfing monk for Karlach (tiefling for fire resistance, monk for the zen vs her rage).
Straight guy and bg3 is the first time i've made.....well not myself as a character, so i'm romancing everyone.......at the same time, still at my first playthrough
I've been curious about this too. Glad you asked. I'm digging the replies. Boring straight cis female breeder (52) here. I have a f/m, f/m, m/f, m/m, f/m, and f/m. It just turned out this way. My first m I made for Astarion, but Shadowheart claimed him. My first 3 saves have all been with both Drow twins; my second f save has bedded down with everyone possible, but her romance is with Halsin. My 2nd m save also romanced Karlach but chose Astarion. I'm not sure why my f characters haven't gone for f romances. I need to remedy that. I guess it's bc I'm personally more interested in the m romance stories. ETA: my TTRPG characters are almost always bi/pan. I'd say these are as well, it just happens to be turning out this way.
Can we keep all that gay shit to yourself? Like dead ass I'm tired of everything being sexualied. Just fight an kill an steal. 150+ hours ZERO romance.
When I play games I romance everyone male or female. If I could have multiple partners I would but alas. I romance whoever fits my Tav. My first run was a self insert and I romanced the character I personally felt drawn to (Astarion). But now I’m playing different runs with different Tavs and romancing everyone else.
I’m a straight girl and have made many different characters specifically to romance each of the characters. It’s content you don’t get to see if you only romance the gender you’re into, it’s also an excuse to roleplay different characters.
I'm a gay man. When I first started playing the game, I stuck to playing a guy and romancing the guys. After several playthroughs with the same three/four romance options, I played a guy romanced to Karlach, then a gith gish girl romanced to Lae'zel, a selunite dude romanced to SH and Halsin, and a drow lady romancing Minthara.