Why is Astarion so weak?

[e11]

I realize that giving him the full 5e stats for Vampire Spawn would make him way overpowered, and that none of the party members have backstories that fit level 1 characters. But unless the game is outright hiding stats from me, then he is only a vampire in any sense of the word in cutscenes, with no attempt to sneak any kind of vampire theme into how he plays.

[Orion Invictus]

Agreed. The main problem for me is that he doesn't even have any vampire spawn abilities. His brethren can heal, but he can't. The only thing he can do is drink blood - ONCE PER SHORT REST. It's ridiculous.

[Recjawjind]

Astarion is mechanically the strongest out of all of the origins, and it's not even close (with shadowheart being the weakest if we don't consider items exclusive to these origins)

[victorvnv]

He is the most powerful companion by far

Ascended Astarion gets a powerful vampire bite that debuffs the enemy while healing him for massive amount, he gets Happy condition giving him + 1 to everything: hit, damage, skill checks etc
He gets 1-10 extra necrotic damage per hit when ascended and some builds allows for many hits per turn .

I usually have him as gloomstalker assasin and have him bite my character right after long rest to get the full day happy condition, then have him cast leader restoration on me to cure the bloodless condition and he is golden.

It’s a lot more than what every other companion gets

[hermit0wl]

He has a bite attack, a +1 bonus to everything from biting humanoids, and none of the vampire weaknesses. Is that not enough?

[victorvnv]

Mathematically, the Happy condition is equivalent of getting +2 to every ability until long rest and that’s huge .

Having him bite your char at start of the day is essential

[Recjawjind]

Publicado originalmente por victorvnv:

Mathematically, the Happy condition is equivalent of getting +2 to every ability until long rest and that’s huge .

Having him bite your char at start of the day is essential

Why bite your own character? That's a -1 for you.
Just stealth bite some rando NPC. They won't even notice it.

[hermit0wl]

Publicado originalmente por Recjawjind:

Publicado originalmente por victorvnv:

Mathematically, the Happy condition is equivalent of getting +2 to every ability until long rest and that’s huge .

Having him bite your char at start of the day is essential

Why bite your own character? That's a -1 for you.
Just stealth bite some rando NPC. They won't even notice it.

I always keep the sleeping bugbear in the Blighted village alive as a nice snack for him, lol
But Bloodless isn't much of a problem, just need to use Lesser Restoration

[Hangman]

because he is gay?

[victorvnv]

Publicado originalmente por Recjawjind:

Publicado originalmente por victorvnv:

Mathematically, the Happy condition is equivalent of getting +2 to every ability until long rest and that’s huge .

Having him bite your char at start of the day is essential

Why bite your own character? That's a -1 for you.
Just stealth bite some rando NPC. They won't even notice it.

You cure the bloodless with Leser restoration so you don’t get the debuff.

Astarion is usually gloomstalker in my group and he has Leser restoration spell so he just cures me right away.

As not all zones have humanoids for him to feed on and also doing so makes him go into mele range and waste a bonus action which he is better off using for an offhand crossbow atack anyways .

Much more efficient to bite you at start if the day and cure you then you don’t have to worry about it

[Kittybass]

He's not weak, he's a killing machine

[Malidictus]

Publicado originalmente por hermit0wl:

But Bloodless isn't much of a problem, just need to use Lesser Restoration

Wait, Lesser Restoration cures Bloodless?

[Recjawjind]

Publicado originalmente por hermit0wl:

Publicado originalmente por Recjawjind:

Why bite your own character? That's a -1 for you.
Just stealth bite some rando NPC. They won't even notice it.

I always keep the sleeping bugbear in the Blighted village alive as a nice snack for him, lol
But Bloodless isn't much of a problem, just need to use Lesser Restoration

I mean that still costs a second level spellslot, so I'd rather go bite a random npc from stealth. They are always available for a nibble in every act.

[victorvnv]

Publicado originalmente por Malidictus:

Publicado originalmente por hermit0wl:

But Bloodless isn't much of a problem, just need to use Lesser Restoration

Wait, Lesser Restoration cures Bloodless?

Yep and it’s the best thing to do first thing after long rest.

Only lvl 2 slot and him as a gloomstalker assasin doesn’t even use his spell slots in battle so it’s a small price to pay for pretty much permanent buff if you bite your main char first thing after long rest

[victorvnv]

First thing I do after long rest: Cast speak with animals on myself, cast long strider on the group, cast see invisibility on myself, have Astarion bite me for happy and cast Leser restoration on myself to cure bloodless.

Then drink potion of strength and we are good to go

[e11]

Publicado originalmente por victorvnv:

Mathematically, the Happy condition is equivalent of getting +2 to every ability until long rest and that’s huge .

Having him bite your char at start of the day is essential

Roleplaying-wise. there is just no way, no how, my character would ever let that slimy creep anywhere near her.