There are several conditions that your characters can be affected by and some of these may happen in battle while others are due to certain events.
One of these conditions is called Bloodless, which makes your character less efficient in a fight as well as when exploring.
This won’t happen to your character often and usually just happens once but can be quite a nuisance and you have Astarion to blame for it.
How To Get Bloodless?
After recently recruiting Astarion, there will be a night when he wanders off after a long rest and this is a hint that he is already hiding something. (Sometimes this is skipped)
Another long rest will cause you to wake up with Astarion present, who was about to sink his teeth into your neck to drink your blood.
After confronting Astarion, you have the option to let him drink your blood and this will cause you to be affected by Bloodless.
After it has been revealed that Astarion is a vampire, he will be able to use his Vampire Bite against enemies and this will cause them to be affected by Bloodless.
Bloodless Effects
A character that is affected by Bloodless will have their Attack Rolls, Saving Throws and most of their Ability Checks reduced by 1.
This makes it more difficult for the character to hit enemies, and succeed with saving throws as well as pass when it comes to certain interactions in the environment or with dialogue.
Being affected by Bloodless after Astarion drinks your blood can put you at a disadvantage once you leave the camp.
Astarion Happy Condition
While Astarion’s victim will become Bloodless and get a reduction in Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, and Ability Checks, the opposite happens for this vampire.
Astarion will gain an additional point with the mentioned stats, making him more effective in and out of combat.
This makes it useful to use Vampire Bite on your enemies to give Astarion a boost, making him good in a fight as well as when you are exploring.
How To Remove Bloodless?
Removing Bloodless is not as hard as it may seem as you simply need to do a Long Rest, but some may consider this a waste since it may progress the story.
It won’t be a waste though if you get Astarion to bite you earlier before any events start that may be affected by a Long Rest.
Another way to remove Bloodless would be to have another member cast Lesser Restoration to remove Bloodless. (Amulet of Silvanus can cast the spell as well)
Should You Let Astarion Bite You?
If you plan on romancing Astarion, allowing him to bite you would increase his approval of your character but being affected by Bloodless can be annoying.
Should you find it necessary to allow him to bite you, dealing with Bloodless will have to be done afterward and it is up to you if you will save up on the Long Rest until needed.
After Astarion bites you on the night that you allow him to drink your blood, he will be affected by the Happy condition.
Verdict
Astarion isn’t a ruthless killer that will drink the blood from anyone, you can later find animals dead alongside the road with their blood drained.
This is a hint that there is a vampire and may be a sign that Astarion had been hunting while the rest of the party was asleep.
Getting rid of Bloodless is as easy as pie since you just need to do a Long Rest but some may tend to endure the debuff until the Long Rest is necessary if they can handle the disadvantage.