Approval
In Baldur's Gate 3, every companion has an approval rating for the player character. You can gain their Approval or Disapproval by making different choices throughout the game. Companions may approve or disapprove of the player's choices in dialogue, combat, and quest completion, based on their beliefs and goals.
Usually when a companion's approval rating changes, a message appears in the top left corner of the interface. Though rarely no message is shown at all or a cutscene stops so quickly that the pop up has no time to show up. Some actions outside of dialogue may make a notice of approval change appear in a box where other common notices such as inspirations, quest updates and such appear normally.
Every companion has its own required approval rating for Romance. Different approval ratings unlock additional dialogues, and might affect the Difficulty Class for persuading the companion. Low approval rating may cause a companion to leave the party or even attack the player character.
Exact approval rating can be seen in the companion's Detailed View of the character sheet.
If a session has multiple player characters in it, each companion has it's own approval rating to every player character. (Possibly allowing multiple romances to happen simultaneously by changing which player character is active in specific dialogues[Needs Verification].)
Approval Thresholds
| Value | Approval | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -49 – -40 | Very Low | Relationship is in danger. Character is likely to leave party if they disagree with another decision. |
| -39 – -20 | Low | Relationship is bad. Character may leave party if approval gets worse. |
| -19 – 20 | Neutral | Relationship is neutral. Character has no strong feelings towards avatar. |
| 21 – 40 | Medium | Relationship is fair. Character's trust in avatar is variable. |
| 41 – 60 | High | Relationship is good. Character approves of avatar. |
| 61 – 80 | Very High | Relationship is very good. Character is happy with and easily convinced by avatar. |
| 81 – 100 | Exceptional | Relationship is exceptional. Character is thrilled with and very easily convinced by avatar. |
A companions current approval rating can be seen by examining their character sheet while they are in the party. The approval rating starts at 0 when recruited, and maxes out at 100. The approval rating can be negative. The companion will leave if their approval rating goes down to -50 or more, taking their worn equipment with them. Inventory and story items will be returned to the player character.
