Eagle-eyed Dungeons and Dragons fans have spotted a fresh reference to everyone’s favourite Baldur’s Gate 3 vampire, hidden away in the game’s new Monster Manual.
Astarion is featured in the 2025 edition of the Monster Manual – or at least, a quote from him is – as spotted by Baldur’s Gate 3 fans on reddit (thanks, GamesRadar).
“Darling, you are simply delicious,” Astarion says, atop the Monster Manual page detailing Vampire Spawn (medium or small Undead, Neutral Evil). And this isn’t the first time Astarion has popped up in official D&D lore either.
Astarion previously popped up in the official D&D Player’s Handbook (2024 edition) as seen in an eye-catching piece of artwork for the daylight spell.
Here, Astarion can be spotted tucked away in the bottom right corner, unafflicted by the spell’s effects which have begun to burn up all his vampire spawn brethren. (Astarion canonically is immune to sunlight, thanks to the handy plot device of having his illithid tadpole in his brain).