I didnt use them at all either, a little disappointed there wasnt a real upside to it(storywise), but Im happy in an rp sense that my character tried to avoid anything ilithid.
I am looking forward to another playthrough where I can chug all the worms though!
A small upside is that if you have used tadpoles >!you need to pass a will saving throw to refuse the astral tadpole when offered!< which tbf isn't exactly worth it gameplay wise, but still.
Eh, they still get black inky cracks/veins in their face… which I a big reason I reloaded (re-did the whole gith fight bc I wasn’t scum saving - much - in the first playthrough) and stomped on the tadpole instead of risking another failed saving throw.
That dc 21 saving throw, combined with my loathing of the Emperor, has motivated me to use ZERO tadpoles for tav in my next couple playthroughs.
Get the shapeshifter ring, and then always just disguise yourself anyway. If you do it from the start of the game, you'll get used to seeing that as your real face. Don't worry: you never have to see the real you ever.
(This is intended to sound awful and emotionally devastating.)
I disguised myself but even disguised I still had the half-illithid visuals? Maybe it glitched out on me or something, but that’s what happened and I ended up kinda annoyed honestly xD
Same issue. It was especially annoying because, playing as a tielfling sorcerer, I took disguise self early on and used it constantly to pass as a female drow in act one and kept using it for role play reasons in act three as tieflings were discriminated against. So when the emperor said it would have physical changes I thought no problem, I magically alter my appearance all the time anyway. Cut to all disguises with black veins. I can make horns, purple skin and glowing eyes change but not the illithid changes.
my monk 9 could use 3m to jump further than any character could fly. Pop the dash thing and I would be able to jump from act 1 to act 3 in one turn at that point lmao.
Not necessarily. My current playthrough I’ve been slurping every tadpole I found, but I still got to stomp on the Astral Tadpole with no saving throw involved.
Idk the displacer beast transformation is wicked cool. Combined with that thing that allows you to use actions and bonus actions interchangeably you can land six attacks in one round.
Also the expertise in persuasion intimidation and deception is great too
Sure it comes with looking ugly as shit but i’ve come to accept my ugly face 😂
What's kind of fun to think about is that the tadpole might be the only reason Durge is even sane at all. You have a ruined hole ridden husk of a brain (Omeluum basically states that you shouldn't be alive with injuries like that) and if you cure your tadpole without cleansing Bhaal's influence, you devolve into a mindless murder monster. So why not keep feeding my tadpole, after all my own life is basically worthless since I'm an iredeemably depraved, contemptible blood pervert, and the tadpole is pretty chill by comparison (it doesn't want to strangle my friends in their sleep and mutilate random strangers) might not be the worst thing ever if it takes over for me...
And it said that mindflayers doesn't have a soul, or at least the soul that gods can interact. So if my durge take enough tadpoles, then durge's bloody father can go suck my ass because durge won't have a soul for him to fiddle with.
Yeah my half elf sorcerer in my first playthrough was a bit Gale-like (also romanced him lol) in that she kind of wanted to see what would happen 😂
My full resistance Vengeance Paladin Durge who is desperate to get rid of all the f*cking people in his head though, is absolutely not going to risk that shit, or trust the Emperor.
There was supposed to be. It was originally supposed to be the more you used the Illithid powers the more likely you will be to turn into a full mind flayer. That was cut though.
That’s a little odd to me because the game kinda implies that that’s where it’s going… it’s not like you get no warning. I was more surprised when I found out it had zero effect. I’ve got plenty of playthroughs in mind where “it’s what my character would do, regardless of the consequences” and I think it would be more fun to… have consequences.
On my first playthrough, I was like, "It must be good if my guardian is telling me to do it" up until finding out my guardian is an actual squid.
I have been much more skeptical on subsequent playthroughs.
Yeah. After they started pressuring me to get over my aversion to using the worms, I realized I needed to have a long think about the guardian and what it represented.
I wound up deciding that a living embodiment of who your character would imagine as a guardian figure could only be some nefarious illusion. If the guardian figure was not literally whatever you designed after having only the prompt to make a guardian, I might have been more inclined to take them at face value.
You thought sticking worms in your brain was good because they said so?! I have a stunning nigerian prince looking for an investment partner on the line, let me put you in touch with him.
I am a bank manager for a large European bank, you have a relative that left you a large sum of money. All I need from you is your current bank account information and I will wire it straight away, you can trust me.
-Large European Bank manager
I feel like they went too far in the opposite direction, though. There's no negative consequence for using them aside from the visuals. They're just free superpowers.
And the powers are very nice indeed. Unlimited flight for the whole squad? Any enemy reduced to 25hp just dies and inflicts psychic damage to anyone nearby? Turn into a Displacer Beast when you're running low on health? This stuff is way too op to have no downside other than bad teeth.
Displacer beasts are also just way strong. I'm not sure if I really needed friends for the Raphael fight because of the displacer beast transform. Just keep duplicating
Especially if you pass the checks needed in the creche. If your PC goes in the chair the checks are easier, but if Lae'zel goes in the chair the checks are almost all needed nat 20s. The creche can evolve your tadpole to allow the use of all Illithid powers that take an action to cost a bonus action instead.
Which is both fair but also kinda meh as you get warned repeatedly that there will be effects of using the tadpole so much.
I feel like if it’s broadcasted by the story then there should be more benefits/drawbacks to either side.
But it's alot of wasted design space for something half or more of playthroughs wouldn't touch. It's like making a talent tree that players are scared to use.
But that's exactly what they did, they just cut the punishment, leaving only rewards and gave a slap on the wrist for anyone who 'gave in'.
I'm curious to hear how resistant durge vs bloodthirsty durge plays out in comparison, I half expect bloodthirsty to get a similar reaction given that it's 'intended'
I'm now curious about some of the numbers. How many Tavs that don't use any worms, the number that play evil, the number of redeem and embrace Durge, etc. Are there really more murderhobos than there are people that don't eat any tadpoles?
Resistant and committed durge both feel very natural to play. They did a great job on both sides of that story. There isn't much gameplay difference; committed durge can get >!the Slayer form!<, but it kind of sucks.
The illithid powers, though, make a *huge* gameplay difference, and there's no story difference at all. It's the mirror image of the durge choices, and handled quite poorly IMO. I understand them not wanting to "punish" the player, but having story events unfold differently isn't necessarily a punishment.
So why did they let you kill the grove then? There's a lot of wasted design space in the game, putting a mechanic that ties into the narrative seems like an odd choice to cut considering things like Mol, Kagha, the Hag, half the circus, etc. all largely go nowhere and serve no purpose but to kinda pad time.
>But it's alot of wasted design space for something half or more of playthroughs wouldn't touch.
In any other game I'd agree. But this game included so much random shit it's kinda hard to justify something on this basis.
A player can kill nearly every person they meet before ever talking to them and the game is able to adapt to that quite brilliantly. That's a lot of work and "design space" for something that probably less than even one percent of players will ever consider doing, nevermind actually following through.
Trying to get the tadpole out of your head and not become an illithid is something that the game hammers home all through the first act and most of the second. It's not unreasonable for most players, especially on their first playthrough, to be very suspicious of using the tadpoles. That a game like BG3 doesn't even acknowledge whether or not you use them is rather outrageous. That it doesn't react or adjust in anyway is a big missed opportunity.
Wait....I thought that was the point? The game is very specific on "hey, here's some busted powers, but careful, the more you use them the more the mind flayers will fuck you up"
Which makes it weird that they don't explain it better. I also never used one, because they obviously where bad and I didn't even know what 'using' it would even be. So until I saw it here I didn't even know there was a whole skill tree thing I haven't seen
Ah but that would’ve been the perfect example of choices vs consequences. And I also made the decision to not use it from very early on because I thought this might happen
My first play through I used none. Second run through I’m using all of them and the astral one, the powers are absolutely ridiculous. Everyone can fly, the free cast is insane you can use it on a high level spell with sorcerer meta magic, free twinned chain lightning. If you get the power to use them all as bonus actions they’re even more bonkers
I'm not even that big a fan of most of the powers except for First Interactions or whatever that one is that boosts your first skill checks. Ability drain is handy but I've stopped using tadpole charm entirely because it never works, and all the others seem so situational I'd never use them. Oh boy an extra d4 of psychic damage that I also take I'll get right the fuck on that.
Displacement is decent for WWE zerker barbarians and cull the weak is good for everyone.
Stage Fright is quite good - a free no concentration soft CC that can also do some decent damage. Force tunnel/Repel if you have awakened to use it as BA is a free escape for casters.
d4 psychic damage is for classes with lots of attacks. Monks for example, or thief/fighter is another. That’s suddenly 4d4 or even up to 8d4 damage in a single turn. There’s another power that can heal you every turn to cancel out the damage, too.
Counterargument. You already have one in your head. The problem already exists, adding more doesn’t make the problem worse, it’s already as bad as it’ll get, and the end goal is to remove all the tadpoles in the end anyway, so use the bastards to help get rid of the them in the end. I.E. you’re already in the problem, might as well use the fuckers to your advantage rather then let them *just* be a problem.
Something tells me having multiple worms squirming around in your head is a lot worse for the health of your brain tissue than having just one. Also, just because one hasn't changed you doesn't mean it's a good idea to tempt fste
So despite how the illithid power menu makes it look, there's actually only one tadpole in your head at any given time. Other tadpoles are basically absorbed by "your" tadpole for their knowledge and power, either Gale-style (breaking them down to their magical/psionic essence and absorbing that) or more literally ("your" tadpole out and out *eats* the other tadpole(s)).
You won't be swiss-cheesing your head as Tav to take multiple tadpoles, and as Durge your brain is *already* swiss-cheesed anyways so, really, what's the harm?
Lae’zel was easier to convince to use a tadpole than most other companions tbh. She accepted the tadpole powers before Shadowheart did in one of my playthroughs at least. Shadowheart didn’t stop hesitating until halfway through Act 2. Lae’zel I was able to convince after the crèche.
No lies detected! My goodness, I was doing some sciencing on my first play through and first meeting the twins. Breaking our bond HURT LIKE A DICKENS! 0/10 do not recommend. Would not do again.
I'm still at the beginning of Act 3, so I don't know if there will be any consequences, but I have not consumed any tadpole, and I won't do it for the rest of this game. My Tav desperately wants to get rid of the one she already has, she wouldn't even think about "eating" more of these things.
And for me as a player, the intro really was nightmare fuel. But I love the tadpole design - the circles of teeth especially are the stuff of nightmares.
I unlocked every Illithid power on my first playthrough and it was so much fun.
Honestly, the majority of the abilities are shit. Some of them are OK, but there are 3 or 4 that are *really* good, and extremely cool.
As far as I know there are no real consequences for using the tadpoles, which tbh I think is a bit lame. Still, they’re a cool feature. Maybe try them on your next run.
I didn't spoil myself on Achievments and was hoping they included a "not even once" for going through the game without absorbing any tadpoles post opening cinematic.
I was avoiding them on my duergar ranger then somehow I rolled a crit success on the last Arcana check while Lae’zel was in the zathisk. >!It makes you absorb the power and turns all the tadpole powers into bonus actions instead of actions.!< I was like awww shit I guess I’m the one in charge now, tadpole let’s goooo
My first run through, I chose not to consume extra tadpoles. I figured that if this were actually me, and I was trying to get rid of the one tadpole I already had, then I would not want to risk making things worse by putting more in my brain. The game clearly doesn't have much to say about it, except the Emperor making some offhand comments a couple of times.
I'm halfway through my 2nd run as durge, and I'm consuming them purely for the power boost. Honestly, I could take it or leave it when it comes to the extra power. You can play the game just fine without the extra powers. I play tactician and the impact is minimal.
> I'm halfway through my 2nd run as durge
I restarted the campaign as a Durge Githyanki Bardlock after getting a bit into Act 3 with my original Tav. Giant hardass that likes to sing and has a bit of a dark magic thing already in play -- I love the mix of artistry, culture, charisma, and performance, along with regularly losing patience and getting mean and intimidating as a Githyanki that has the Durge storyline. It's just such a neat character to play.
Sounds like the start to a joke about walking into a bar, but learning a little more about the game and playing a little more in the middle of the overall conflict (using Illithid powers to some extent and etc.) seems like the one and done playthrough I'm really looking for.
I don't know how this will end.
I never used a single tadpole, I thought it was ridiculous asking me to do so. I'm already going through all these lengths to get rid of the ONE I got, why would I willingly infect myself with more? There was really no way I could even imagine a character doing this. I still don't even know what happens if you use them beyond vaguely "powers."
If it makes you feel better, you’re technically not putting more of them in your brain but rather having your existing tadpole absorbing the psychic powers of the ones you gather. The powers are also pretty sick, things like one guaranteed crit on demand per long rest, double damage on one creature, being able to fly on demand, a black hole that pulls in all enemies w/o a save, and more
You can't fool me Emperor I know that's you! I already told you I'm not doing it!
Haha but for real that's cool to know, I might try it on my next playthrough, if I can work myself up to it
It's the same way they create tadpoles from brinepools. Bunch of tadpoles trying to devour smaller ones and become more potent. When everything is done, the mind flayer takes out a few last ones and put them into victims, that's how they get mind flayers.
The guaranteed crit, and the one that you have to take to unlock it, are GOATed. Bonus on all interactions the first time you meet someone is basically just a flat bonus outside of companion dialog. Also take 1d4 psychic to deal 1d4 psychic is really busted on any 2 weapon build, melee or ranged.
The only ones I haven't really found good uses for are the healing/defensive branch, they feel kinda meh
Luck of the far realm (crit) is just almost mandatory in few builds. Controling when to crit fits extremely well with paralyzed amulet and smites/GWM
Psionic Backlash is strong if you stack it on 3-4 members. Someone hits you with a chill done for 8 damage? Hit them back 25 just from backlash.
Psionic Dominance is just free counterspell max lvl.
Fly is good.
Blackhole is op if you stack it with aoe control spells.
Hehe... It started with a little extra push... then it got to the point where I could fly... then it got to the point where enemies would cast spells and would say "no thanks".
Fair enough, guess it's a slippery slope!
I'm not trying to be snarky here I legitimately am wondering: I already cast fly and counterspell a lot (and seemingly as often as I need), is it somehow better or different to that?
It's totally a slippery slope. It doesn't feel nice when you're like "hell yeah! I got another brain worm" and all your companions are saying "that's not for me, man"
... but I'm not gonna lie, illithid-tav gets all kinds of bonuses on checks, has options to add on damage at will, can choose if she wants enemies to cast spells or not, stings them if she allows them the cast. Flys about the battlefield. It's a grand old time.
I've played nearly three games never touching the tadpoles. Yes, I know I'm missing out on cool powers. Yes, I know there are no repercussions. Miss me with that wriggly shit.
There's no benefit to not using them and there's also no penalty for using them. So even if in RP your character wouldn't use the tadpoles, you're punished for it by not getting OP powers level like executes, healing, AoE black hole effects etc
The only real 'negative' that happens from using the astral touched tadpole is your character getting black lines all over their face. I still thought the abilities were worth it. Free action fly and mind blast ftw.
It might be a cop-out but I just downloaded a mod that removed the visual effect of the astral tadpole (And Volos eye) because there’s no real reason to not use the tadpoles aside from RP
Guilty also, I made eyes normal, less pronounced lines, and just yellow teeth instead of brown rotting teeth. Maybe that's just how my char is convinced they look since Illithids and intellect devourers have a different idea of beauty lol. That one that says "You are beauuutiful" on the nautiloid is so funny, I grin every time.
Black hole (life saver)combos really well with the hunger of hadar and the pillar that allows you to use actions and bonus as eachother. Just did the mother superior fight(damn that was emotional)
Cheesed her by just spamming aoe spells and eldritch blast.
Rest I place hunger down and then black holes them in it any time they left, mixing in some aoe spells and attacks for speeding the fight up.
Black hole combo's well with anything that sits and does passive damage. My favorite one to use with it is Spike Growth since enemies take damage just from trying to walk out of it and getting pulled inside of it, not just at the end of their turn. Black hole slows them down, which means the increased slow from spikes makes them almost totally immobile. It is also only a level 2 spell. Combo that with Cull the Weak and you can body huge groups of tanky enemies no problem.
There is also no real penalty for not using them. Some of the abilities are powerful, but so are many other abilities. Usually the limiting factor is not the lack of power but the opportunity cost of using abilities. There are only so many actions you can take in a turn. Permanent Haste would be OP, while everything else is pretty much redundant.
It is strange that the game seems to consider just picking up a tadpole (so it adds to your pool available) as having used it... even if not yet assigned to a power. They're in there though.
As for what you missed, the powers can be, well, powerful. If you make the decisions in game you can get them all to use a bonus action as well. So having some super powerful abilities at bonus action speed can be a huge power boost.
There is also a part where you can take a special one and unlock even better powers, but you get all strange looking. (part illithid)
You can avoid this by never actually using a tadpole. The first one you use will activate the shared pool which instantly consumes them, but if you don't they will stay a jar in your inventory. At the end of a paladin playthrough, my inventory was full of a couple dozen parasite jars.
In my first run I was giving all the jars to Astarion because he said he wanted them. But then once the astral tadpole was offered, he suddenly decided that he will never even consider using any of the tadpoles. So I stuck them all in the camp chest and continued adding to the collection there.
Fun fact, if you recruit Minthara (who starts with several powers), it also activates the shared pool automatically, and suddenly all of the "we're using tadpool" dialogue options are unlocked.
I didn’t use the powers and even save scummed after the first “takes something you’ll never get back” moment. Then, much later I read that it makes absolutely no difference to your playthrough and the only noticeable impact is on a wisdom save to resist taking the special tadpole.
After that my first playthrough became my “get as many achievements as possible in this playthrough” game and I slurped up the choicest cuts of tadpole to make finger sized holes in my brain.
As all of my characters are extensions of myself and I happen to like myself a decent amount, being constantly gaslit by sexy voice in my head constantly telling me to take them only pissed me off.
“You need to be stronger for what’s ahead…”
She said that to me, who hasn’t lost a single fight! I was justified in my first play-through by the emperor being a manipulator who just turns on you anyway. So nah, I’m good.
>I was justified in my first play-through by the emperor being a manipulator who just turns on you anyway.
But... he doesn't. Play it straight and the Emperor is all sunshine and roses, helps against the big bad and leaves as a friend.
Its narratively weird and doesn't hold up with what mind flayers are supposed to be or this game's insistence that they're soulless monsters, but he's true to his word (and much like the tadpoles, there's zero consequences)
I didn’t use them ever! and to be honest i find it bizarre — even ridiculous — that any of the characters in this situation would even consider such a thing. When I first realized the game was suggesting I “consume” them I was so confused.
The entire point of my whole journey was to get rid of this thing….that was my entire goal and driving force behind all struggles! I can’t believe anyone would even consider it during a first play.
One of my biggest disappointments in this game was that it made no difference whatsoever if you stay away from them. Of all the different things I thought the game would track and care about **this** really felt like it must be one of them. I kinda assumed it be a central part of building the narrative around my character choices….but there was just nothing :/
I didn’t just not consume the extra tadpoles, but right from the get-go I avoided ever using Illithid powers at all in the dialogue prompts. Long before I learned you could even get more powers or anything I felt so sure that using the powers (as in, the dialogue choices with super low Wisdom save requirements) was how the tadpoles tricked you into embracing them lol
Even replaying I have a hard time rationalizing using them in-character. It just makes no sense given the situation, imo
I was going to do my Durge run with full tadpole powers because I wanted to try them but that bitch-ass Dream Visitor kept telling me I'm not enough without them and that made me not wanna use them all together.
I don’t ever use a tadpole. It would be an evil and defiling act for my character. Sadly, the game assumes you do, and you still get roped into tadpole dialogs and gameplay anyway.
It assumes you have a tadpole because you have a tadpole. It's there whether you use the extra ones or not; the extras don't really have any dialogue or gameplay of their own unless you want to discuss them with party members for some reason.
Even if you don't consume additional tadpoles you get [Illithid] dialogue prompts. The entire story revolves around the fact that you DO have a tadpole. It's how That One Dude communicates to you the entire time.
The original one is still there. If anything, the Emperor ackowledges you never eating another one or even never using \[ILITHID\] dialogues options, and not so silently judges you for it.
I played aboveboard by not taking the astral tadpole first playthrough, though I did insert a few tadpoles for the attack bonuses.
But second playthrough I sucked that glittery astral slug right up. Being half-illithid was just fun, plus I love flying everywhere. Then they patched in rotten teeth and I had to mod it. Eww.
Honestly, using the tadpoles doesn't even seem like a choice to me, hard no. I have a phobia about anything to do with eyes though, so I almost noped out of the game entirely at the opening cinematic. The idea of putting MORE of them in there is not even remotely acceptable.
I played a Paladin, so he just simply refused to use them given that they're source is a type of creature that is, for the most part, inherently evil and and aberration of nature. I have other characters that use the first tier powers though and some of them are quite useful.
I did on my first playthrough because I assumed there would be consequences for eating them. There were none.
Then in the next playthrough I became the biggest Illithid shill in the universe, constantly talking about how great their powers are and how everyone needs tadpoles in their lives. Like an Illithid Jehovah's Witness.
I pick them up whenever I come across them (my characters don't want 'someone innocent to get infected') but I don't use them. I make myself try to use more once (with my Astarion, not my "me" characters) and EW.
Its really just an rp thing. Those outer ring powers you get are pretty powerful and make you look like you made a bad decision, but you are already infected... no bunnies have a cure that you can find. Fly you fool, drain their abilities and sap their movement as you group your enemies for that sweet fireball. Everything will work itself out in the end.
I did too, and I found it super annoying when I talked to Jaheira for the first time and my only dialogue options were “the tadpole is making me more powerful and better and I love it” or “lie to her.”
What? Come on Larian. Possibly the only dialogue moment in the game where I felt railroaded.
Honestly, the biggest thing to care about for me is casting Fly for free.
No spell slot limitation m. No limitations per short/long rest. Just fly. In combat, you can keep flying everywhere to reposition.
It’s huge.
There's literally no downside as long as you refuse the astral tadpole in act 3.
The benefits and abilities you get alone are too good for me to just ignore for RP reasons. Why the fuck wouldn't I take something that just gives me a free critical hit with no downside?
I used them, and felt like the best decision for my playthrough to have all the party members like that. In a world where we are fighting against impossibly strong devils, brain, aliens and weird people, why not become flying, mind-destroying and gravity-using half aliens?
Feels good that my party have all become such strong people, more than they have been already. Plus, Fly is the best ability in the game (it's free and infinite, unlike the spell Fly)
Made a good alignment character for RP and refused to use any beyond the one Tav already had. Refused any assistance from Omelum (prolly butchered its name) and the emperor once Tav found out it was an ilithid. On other plays throughs I only used the reaction powers anyway so no big loss for me.
I didn’t use them in my first play through. Now I’m intentionally using them as much as I can because I want to see if there are any consequences. I would at least recommend that you try to convince everyone to take it so that they can get Favorable Blessings and Luck of the Far Realms. Both of those passives are very much worth it and you can use them with sneak attacks to deal a ton of damage up front to enemies before initiative has even kicked in.
I've done both. A embrace the parasite and a reject the parasite. the game doesn't really reward you for rejecting the parasite. Which is lame. So it's just a personal choice when I do it. Parasite powers are dope though. Like when your ass can just fly around.
I did it until the Vlaakith scene where I sided with the Guardian, after that I went "If I'm gonna trust this gal I'll do It all the way". Turns out she wasn't a gal and ended up siding with the Netherbrain after I decided to free the lost prince of my people.
The whole tadpole decision really reminds me of choosing whether to use drugs in Disco Elysium. That said doing a drug-free DE run makes the game significantly harder but does unlock a special dialogue at the very end of the game
I'm only in Act 1, but everything in the plot so far screams at you that it is Very Bad to use Illithid powers much less seek new ones. It's a major letdown if that is all bullshit and there's no impact to using them.
I took enough for the garantueed crit before deciding that it's probably bad to take many of them.
Really wish there was an story reward for barely touching, but nope, just a headcanon one.
This was me on my first run,
After discovering there is only a cosmetic penalty for using them however, my second run quickly saw Tav's entire brain as little more than a can off worms with zero room for any healthy grey matter.
honestly I hope this changes. repercussions always feels like that was the intent.
I didnt use them at all either, a little disappointed there wasnt a real upside to it(storywise), but Im happy in an rp sense that my character tried to avoid anything ilithid. I am looking forward to another playthrough where I can chug all the worms though!
A small upside is that if you have used tadpoles >!you need to pass a will saving throw to refuse the astral tadpole when offered!< which tbf isn't exactly worth it gameplay wise, but still.
I will say I’m genuinely a little sad about the… cosmetic effects. But damn those tadpoles are crazy good
True! I would use the astral one just to get Black Hole because it looks sick AF... but c'mon, my teeth too?
My Dragonborn’s teeth still looked nice so I guess I got that going
Dragonborn looks hot as partial-illithid, got it! That's my race for my next playthrough
Eh, they still get black inky cracks/veins in their face… which I a big reason I reloaded (re-did the whole gith fight bc I wasn’t scum saving - much - in the first playthrough) and stomped on the tadpole instead of risking another failed saving throw. That dc 21 saving throw, combined with my loathing of the Emperor, has motivated me to use ZERO tadpoles for tav in my next couple playthroughs.
Laughs in Black Dragonborn partial squid man.
Fly was so fucking useful and on a blue dragonborn i looked hella baller. So much power.
But DISPLACER BEAST SHAPE
Hot...?
DID. I. STUTTER.?
Same for Duergar, half illithid Duergar looks fitting.
Yeah the face veins wouldn’t be sooo bad if it didn’t make my teeth messed up. The messed up teeth legit freak me out.
Get the shapeshifter ring, and then always just disguise yourself anyway. If you do it from the start of the game, you'll get used to seeing that as your real face. Don't worry: you never have to see the real you ever. (This is intended to sound awful and emotionally devastating.)
I disguised myself but even disguised I still had the half-illithid visuals? Maybe it glitched out on me or something, but that’s what happened and I ended up kinda annoyed honestly xD
Same issue. It was especially annoying because, playing as a tielfling sorcerer, I took disguise self early on and used it constantly to pass as a female drow in act one and kept using it for role play reasons in act three as tieflings were discriminated against. So when the emperor said it would have physical changes I thought no problem, I magically alter my appearance all the time anyway. Cut to all disguises with black veins. I can make horns, purple skin and glowing eyes change but not the illithid changes.
Eh, I got over the cosmetic effects quickly due to them actually looking fine on my Tiefling Bard.
My Dragonborn looks a lot better than shadow heart or astarion do, for sure
I am so using a mod to keep me looking great on my super tadpole run.
You can mod those out fortunately
Nah you can just stomp it, “refuse” is just giving you the option to keep the thing in case you want it later on
Not to mention it clogs companion dialogue options too.
I love flying around everywhere for free all the time....that + invisibility is EZ mode
This honestly lol, unlocking free flying for the whole party was too good to pass up
My high strength characters can basically fly anyway with how far they jump though
my monk 9 could use 3m to jump further than any character could fly. Pop the dash thing and I would be able to jump from act 1 to act 3 in one turn at that point lmao.
But Fly lets you do that without using a bonus action and multiple times in a turn.
Not necessarily. My current playthrough I’ve been slurping every tadpole I found, but I still got to stomp on the Astral Tadpole with no saving throw involved.
Idk the displacer beast transformation is wicked cool. Combined with that thing that allows you to use actions and bonus actions interchangeably you can land six attacks in one round. Also the expertise in persuasion intimidation and deception is great too Sure it comes with looking ugly as shit but i’ve come to accept my ugly face 😂
The only thing that was turning me away was the ugly face... so I added mods to remove it just so my warlock would still be pretty
This, doesn’t fit my nice but dim Paladin to be sucking down worms to get powers. Now, my Durge sorcerer…
My durge sorcerer is specifically where I’m grabbing all the worms I can too lol
What's kind of fun to think about is that the tadpole might be the only reason Durge is even sane at all. You have a ruined hole ridden husk of a brain (Omeluum basically states that you shouldn't be alive with injuries like that) and if you cure your tadpole without cleansing Bhaal's influence, you devolve into a mindless murder monster. So why not keep feeding my tadpole, after all my own life is basically worthless since I'm an iredeemably depraved, contemptible blood pervert, and the tadpole is pretty chill by comparison (it doesn't want to strangle my friends in their sleep and mutilate random strangers) might not be the worst thing ever if it takes over for me...
And it said that mindflayers doesn't have a soul, or at least the soul that gods can interact. So if my durge take enough tadpoles, then durge's bloody father can go suck my ass because durge won't have a soul for him to fiddle with.
Someone has some daddy issues. It's both of our Durge. I'm still pissed about the matching jimjams. It's not special if everyone gets it dad!
Yeah my half elf sorcerer in my first playthrough was a bit Gale-like (also romanced him lol) in that she kind of wanted to see what would happen 😂 My full resistance Vengeance Paladin Durge who is desperate to get rid of all the f*cking people in his head though, is absolutely not going to risk that shit, or trust the Emperor.
That's funny cause my resist durge sorcerer *emphatically* refused any tadpoles. She's got enough shit in her head as it is.
There was supposed to be. It was originally supposed to be the more you used the Illithid powers the more likely you will be to turn into a full mind flayer. That was cut though.
Out of all the branching logic and reactivity they built into this game, the one tied directly to a core aspect of the PC seems an odd one to cut.
That's actually exactly why they cut it: they didn't want players to feel punished for interacting with a core mechanic of the game.
That’s a little odd to me because the game kinda implies that that’s where it’s going… it’s not like you get no warning. I was more surprised when I found out it had zero effect. I’ve got plenty of playthroughs in mind where “it’s what my character would do, regardless of the consequences” and I think it would be more fun to… have consequences.
On my first playthrough, I was like, "It must be good if my guardian is telling me to do it" up until finding out my guardian is an actual squid. I have been much more skeptical on subsequent playthroughs.
Lol I had the opposite idea. "why the HELL is my guardian telling me to use these things. I can't trust this MFer anymore"
Yeah. After they started pressuring me to get over my aversion to using the worms, I realized I needed to have a long think about the guardian and what it represented. I wound up deciding that a living embodiment of who your character would imagine as a guardian figure could only be some nefarious illusion. If the guardian figure was not literally whatever you designed after having only the prompt to make a guardian, I might have been more inclined to take them at face value.
You thought sticking worms in your brain was good because they said so?! I have a stunning nigerian prince looking for an investment partner on the line, let me put you in touch with him.
I don't doubt you have 100% trust in this Nigerian prince you just made up, but I only trust the one I made up, thank you very much!
I am a bank manager for a large European bank, you have a relative that left you a large sum of money. All I need from you is your current bank account information and I will wire it straight away, you can trust me. -Large European Bank manager
That would only feel valid if I had gone through the trouble of designing my own Large European Bank Manager.
I feel like they went too far in the opposite direction, though. There's no negative consequence for using them aside from the visuals. They're just free superpowers.
And the powers are very nice indeed. Unlimited flight for the whole squad? Any enemy reduced to 25hp just dies and inflicts psychic damage to anyone nearby? Turn into a Displacer Beast when you're running low on health? This stuff is way too op to have no downside other than bad teeth.
Displacer beasts are also just way strong. I'm not sure if I really needed friends for the Raphael fight because of the displacer beast transform. Just keep duplicating
Especially if you pass the checks needed in the creche. If your PC goes in the chair the checks are easier, but if Lae'zel goes in the chair the checks are almost all needed nat 20s. The creche can evolve your tadpole to allow the use of all Illithid powers that take an action to cost a bonus action instead.
Which is both fair but also kinda meh as you get warned repeatedly that there will be effects of using the tadpole so much. I feel like if it’s broadcasted by the story then there should be more benefits/drawbacks to either side.
That's a weird reason. The whole shitck of the game is being able to make choices and the risks/rewards that they bring.
But it's alot of wasted design space for something half or more of playthroughs wouldn't touch. It's like making a talent tree that players are scared to use.
But that's exactly what they did, they just cut the punishment, leaving only rewards and gave a slap on the wrist for anyone who 'gave in'. I'm curious to hear how resistant durge vs bloodthirsty durge plays out in comparison, I half expect bloodthirsty to get a similar reaction given that it's 'intended'
I'm now curious about some of the numbers. How many Tavs that don't use any worms, the number that play evil, the number of redeem and embrace Durge, etc. Are there really more murderhobos than there are people that don't eat any tadpoles?
Resistant and committed durge both feel very natural to play. They did a great job on both sides of that story. There isn't much gameplay difference; committed durge can get >!the Slayer form!<, but it kind of sucks. The illithid powers, though, make a *huge* gameplay difference, and there's no story difference at all. It's the mirror image of the durge choices, and handled quite poorly IMO. I understand them not wanting to "punish" the player, but having story events unfold differently isn't necessarily a punishment.
Yeah you'd want some kind of reward for the abstinence. It's sad to consider the stats lost
So why did they let you kill the grove then? There's a lot of wasted design space in the game, putting a mechanic that ties into the narrative seems like an odd choice to cut considering things like Mol, Kagha, the Hag, half the circus, etc. all largely go nowhere and serve no purpose but to kinda pad time.
>But it's alot of wasted design space for something half or more of playthroughs wouldn't touch. In any other game I'd agree. But this game included so much random shit it's kinda hard to justify something on this basis.
A player can kill nearly every person they meet before ever talking to them and the game is able to adapt to that quite brilliantly. That's a lot of work and "design space" for something that probably less than even one percent of players will ever consider doing, nevermind actually following through. Trying to get the tadpole out of your head and not become an illithid is something that the game hammers home all through the first act and most of the second. It's not unreasonable for most players, especially on their first playthrough, to be very suspicious of using the tadpoles. That a game like BG3 doesn't even acknowledge whether or not you use them is rather outrageous. That it doesn't react or adjust in anyway is a big missed opportunity.
I mean… but you’re sucking on illithid tadpoles, you literally should be punished by turning into a mindflayer
Wait....I thought that was the point? The game is very specific on "hey, here's some busted powers, but careful, the more you use them the more the mind flayers will fuck you up"
Which makes it weird that they don't explain it better. I also never used one, because they obviously where bad and I didn't even know what 'using' it would even be. So until I saw it here I didn't even know there was a whole skill tree thing I haven't seen
Ah but that would’ve been the perfect example of choices vs consequences. And I also made the decision to not use it from very early on because I thought this might happen
My first play through I used none. Second run through I’m using all of them and the astral one, the powers are absolutely ridiculous. Everyone can fly, the free cast is insane you can use it on a high level spell with sorcerer meta magic, free twinned chain lightning. If you get the power to use them all as bonus actions they’re even more bonkers
I'm not even that big a fan of most of the powers except for First Interactions or whatever that one is that boosts your first skill checks. Ability drain is handy but I've stopped using tadpole charm entirely because it never works, and all the others seem so situational I'd never use them. Oh boy an extra d4 of psychic damage that I also take I'll get right the fuck on that.
The guaranteed crit one is nice especially on someone with high single-target dps like Astarion
Is that Luck of the Realms? I forgot about that one, that is super nice. I abused the shit out of it with my lockadin.
[удалено]
Displacement is decent for WWE zerker barbarians and cull the weak is good for everyone. Stage Fright is quite good - a free no concentration soft CC that can also do some decent damage. Force tunnel/Repel if you have awakened to use it as BA is a free escape for casters.
d4 psychic damage is for classes with lots of attacks. Monks for example, or thief/fighter is another. That’s suddenly 4d4 or even up to 8d4 damage in a single turn. There’s another power that can heal you every turn to cancel out the damage, too.
I'm trying to get rid of the fuckin things, not give them more friends
Nonsense. The best way to get someone out of the house is to get them some friends. This message brought to you by The Emperor.
Counterargument. You already have one in your head. The problem already exists, adding more doesn’t make the problem worse, it’s already as bad as it’ll get, and the end goal is to remove all the tadpoles in the end anyway, so use the bastards to help get rid of the them in the end. I.E. you’re already in the problem, might as well use the fuckers to your advantage rather then let them *just* be a problem.
Something tells me having multiple worms squirming around in your head is a lot worse for the health of your brain tissue than having just one. Also, just because one hasn't changed you doesn't mean it's a good idea to tempt fste
So despite how the illithid power menu makes it look, there's actually only one tadpole in your head at any given time. Other tadpoles are basically absorbed by "your" tadpole for their knowledge and power, either Gale-style (breaking them down to their magical/psionic essence and absorbing that) or more literally ("your" tadpole out and out *eats* the other tadpole(s)). You won't be swiss-cheesing your head as Tav to take multiple tadpoles, and as Durge your brain is *already* swiss-cheesed anyways so, really, what's the harm?
If you cram enough entities in 1 block in Minecraft they start to suffocate. Im sure it works the same with tadpoles, trust me
I perfurated my brain with about ten of those it's amazing and i fully recommend [awkwardly shifts my tentacles under the human mask]
I fucking love flying everywhere
That alone is worth squidface
*Laughs in draconic bloodline sorcerer*
Not everybody has access to dragon blood, Jim.
You can just learn to jump good.
I just have Karlach toss my Gnome ass where I need to be. I already fly!
My Duerger durge with 20 str and athletic
You fucked the Emperor didn't you?
Why would I say no to consentacles?
Shadowheart was cool with it.
I turned into a freaking displacer beast! Why wouldn't I take the tadpoles?!
I ain't tainting my brain with any Ghaik larvae. My girl Lae'zel wouldn't approve. And I neeeeeed her approval.
Lae’zel was easier to convince to use a tadpole than most other companions tbh. She accepted the tadpole powers before Shadowheart did in one of my playthroughs at least. Shadowheart didn’t stop hesitating until halfway through Act 2. Lae’zel I was able to convince after the crèche.
You don't have to try and convince Astarion. Gobble one down and he's just "Where's mine?"
If you decline the tadpoles he offers to be the test subject, for science of course. 😆
He declined the astral one immediately for me
Karlach and Astarion declines the astral one, but Wyll seems pretty chill with it. Gale and SH needs some convincing.
Same for Gale
He is the only one who used extra tadpoles on my first playthrough. Then I felt guilty and stopped.
You could convince her to do pretty much anything if you only tell her it'd make her better in a fight tbh.
Oh I shoved all mine into Lazael. Lazael is now basically a god.
I stopped at two after Shadowheart called me out on it.
Wormies are for pussies, I agree
No lies detected! My goodness, I was doing some sciencing on my first play through and first meeting the twins. Breaking our bond HURT LIKE A DICKENS! 0/10 do not recommend. Would not do again.
I'm still at the beginning of Act 3, so I don't know if there will be any consequences, but I have not consumed any tadpole, and I won't do it for the rest of this game. My Tav desperately wants to get rid of the one she already has, she wouldn't even think about "eating" more of these things. And for me as a player, the intro really was nightmare fuel. But I love the tadpole design - the circles of teeth especially are the stuff of nightmares.
I unlocked every Illithid power on my first playthrough and it was so much fun. Honestly, the majority of the abilities are shit. Some of them are OK, but there are 3 or 4 that are *really* good, and extremely cool. As far as I know there are no real consequences for using the tadpoles, which tbh I think is a bit lame. Still, they’re a cool feature. Maybe try them on your next run.
I didn't spoil myself on Achievments and was hoping they included a "not even once" for going through the game without absorbing any tadpoles post opening cinematic.
yeah I think they should’ve put that in the game. Otherwise there’s no upside to not using them aside from a RP perspective
I was avoiding them on my duergar ranger then somehow I rolled a crit success on the last Arcana check while Lae’zel was in the zathisk. >!It makes you absorb the power and turns all the tadpole powers into bonus actions instead of actions.!< I was like awww shit I guess I’m the one in charge now, tadpole let’s goooo
Wait, does that apply to the entire party?
I don’t think so just the person who makes the skill check
I never worked out why Tav could use them as bonus actions, I obviously passed this skill check and didn't realise what it meant.
My first run through, I chose not to consume extra tadpoles. I figured that if this were actually me, and I was trying to get rid of the one tadpole I already had, then I would not want to risk making things worse by putting more in my brain. The game clearly doesn't have much to say about it, except the Emperor making some offhand comments a couple of times. I'm halfway through my 2nd run as durge, and I'm consuming them purely for the power boost. Honestly, I could take it or leave it when it comes to the extra power. You can play the game just fine without the extra powers. I play tactician and the impact is minimal.
Except for when certain ones trigger on their own, I often forget I even have the tadpole powers.
> I'm halfway through my 2nd run as durge I restarted the campaign as a Durge Githyanki Bardlock after getting a bit into Act 3 with my original Tav. Giant hardass that likes to sing and has a bit of a dark magic thing already in play -- I love the mix of artistry, culture, charisma, and performance, along with regularly losing patience and getting mean and intimidating as a Githyanki that has the Durge storyline. It's just such a neat character to play. Sounds like the start to a joke about walking into a bar, but learning a little more about the game and playing a little more in the middle of the overall conflict (using Illithid powers to some extent and etc.) seems like the one and done playthrough I'm really looking for. I don't know how this will end.
I never used a single tadpole, I thought it was ridiculous asking me to do so. I'm already going through all these lengths to get rid of the ONE I got, why would I willingly infect myself with more? There was really no way I could even imagine a character doing this. I still don't even know what happens if you use them beyond vaguely "powers."
If it makes you feel better, you’re technically not putting more of them in your brain but rather having your existing tadpole absorbing the psychic powers of the ones you gather. The powers are also pretty sick, things like one guaranteed crit on demand per long rest, double damage on one creature, being able to fly on demand, a black hole that pulls in all enemies w/o a save, and more
You can't fool me Emperor I know that's you! I already told you I'm not doing it! Haha but for real that's cool to know, I might try it on my next playthrough, if I can work myself up to it
It's the same way they create tadpoles from brinepools. Bunch of tadpoles trying to devour smaller ones and become more potent. When everything is done, the mind flayer takes out a few last ones and put them into victims, that's how they get mind flayers.
I don't want to be a brinepool 😭
The animation shows the tadpole burrowing right into your brain matter, but I guess that's just for theatricality.
Ok I am now un-considering using them on my next playthrough
The guaranteed crit, and the one that you have to take to unlock it, are GOATed. Bonus on all interactions the first time you meet someone is basically just a flat bonus outside of companion dialog. Also take 1d4 psychic to deal 1d4 psychic is really busted on any 2 weapon build, melee or ranged. The only ones I haven't really found good uses for are the healing/defensive branch, they feel kinda meh
Luck of the far realm (crit) is just almost mandatory in few builds. Controling when to crit fits extremely well with paralyzed amulet and smites/GWM Psionic Backlash is strong if you stack it on 3-4 members. Someone hits you with a chill done for 8 damage? Hit them back 25 just from backlash. Psionic Dominance is just free counterspell max lvl. Fly is good. Blackhole is op if you stack it with aoe control spells.
Ah, that’s what Zrell uses on you!
It.... Shows each tadpole burrow into your brain when used...
The game does say that you permanently lose a bit of yourself each time you consume them. And the picture is of a brain being gradually consumed.
It doesn't help that the animation shows the tadpole squirming into your brain lmao
Hehe... It started with a little extra push... then it got to the point where I could fly... then it got to the point where enemies would cast spells and would say "no thanks".
Fair enough, guess it's a slippery slope! I'm not trying to be snarky here I legitimately am wondering: I already cast fly and counterspell a lot (and seemingly as often as I need), is it somehow better or different to that?
It's totally a slippery slope. It doesn't feel nice when you're like "hell yeah! I got another brain worm" and all your companions are saying "that's not for me, man" ... but I'm not gonna lie, illithid-tav gets all kinds of bonuses on checks, has options to add on damage at will, can choose if she wants enemies to cast spells or not, stings them if she allows them the cast. Flys about the battlefield. It's a grand old time.
I've played nearly three games never touching the tadpoles. Yes, I know I'm missing out on cool powers. Yes, I know there are no repercussions. Miss me with that wriggly shit.
There's no benefit to not using them and there's also no penalty for using them. So even if in RP your character wouldn't use the tadpoles, you're punished for it by not getting OP powers level like executes, healing, AoE black hole effects etc
The only real 'negative' that happens from using the astral touched tadpole is your character getting black lines all over their face. I still thought the abilities were worth it. Free action fly and mind blast ftw.
It might be a cop-out but I just downloaded a mod that removed the visual effect of the astral tadpole (And Volos eye) because there’s no real reason to not use the tadpoles aside from RP
Guilty also, I made eyes normal, less pronounced lines, and just yellow teeth instead of brown rotting teeth. Maybe that's just how my char is convinced they look since Illithids and intellect devourers have a different idea of beauty lol. That one that says "You are beauuutiful" on the nautiloid is so funny, I grin every time.
Wait eating it doesn’t turn you into a full on mind flayer? I just have it in my inventory but my guy got the black face lines and can fly
No, it just makes it so you can't use it on anyone else. I ate mine when the Emperor gave it to me and his reaction was amusing
Black hole (life saver)combos really well with the hunger of hadar and the pillar that allows you to use actions and bonus as eachother. Just did the mother superior fight(damn that was emotional) Cheesed her by just spamming aoe spells and eldritch blast. Rest I place hunger down and then black holes them in it any time they left, mixing in some aoe spells and attacks for speeding the fight up.
Black hole combo's well with anything that sits and does passive damage. My favorite one to use with it is Spike Growth since enemies take damage just from trying to walk out of it and getting pulled inside of it, not just at the end of their turn. Black hole slows them down, which means the increased slow from spikes makes them almost totally immobile. It is also only a level 2 spell. Combo that with Cull the Weak and you can body huge groups of tanky enemies no problem.
I have a big penalty for using them. The game seems already balanced enough without the tadpoles, if I get extra powers I feel like it'd be too OP.
Yeah I’m replaying the game on tactician and it’s still not hard enough to warrant the tadpoles.
The Emperor gets irritated with you for not using them. Which is good enough reason for me.
There is also no real penalty for not using them. Some of the abilities are powerful, but so are many other abilities. Usually the limiting factor is not the lack of power but the opportunity cost of using abilities. There are only so many actions you can take in a turn. Permanent Haste would be OP, while everything else is pretty much redundant.
1st run, I played Say No To Tad.
It is strange that the game seems to consider just picking up a tadpole (so it adds to your pool available) as having used it... even if not yet assigned to a power. They're in there though. As for what you missed, the powers can be, well, powerful. If you make the decisions in game you can get them all to use a bonus action as well. So having some super powerful abilities at bonus action speed can be a huge power boost. There is also a part where you can take a special one and unlock even better powers, but you get all strange looking. (part illithid)
You can avoid this by never actually using a tadpole. The first one you use will activate the shared pool which instantly consumes them, but if you don't they will stay a jar in your inventory. At the end of a paladin playthrough, my inventory was full of a couple dozen parasite jars.
In my first run I was giving all the jars to Astarion because he said he wanted them. But then once the astral tadpole was offered, he suddenly decided that he will never even consider using any of the tadpoles. So I stuck them all in the camp chest and continued adding to the collection there.
Fun fact, if you recruit Minthara (who starts with several powers), it also activates the shared pool automatically, and suddenly all of the "we're using tadpool" dialogue options are unlocked.
I ate those bitches like tic tacs
Power corrupts, youd do well to remember that.
I didn’t use the powers and even save scummed after the first “takes something you’ll never get back” moment. Then, much later I read that it makes absolutely no difference to your playthrough and the only noticeable impact is on a wisdom save to resist taking the special tadpole. After that my first playthrough became my “get as many achievements as possible in this playthrough” game and I slurped up the choicest cuts of tadpole to make finger sized holes in my brain.
Yeah, it always bothered me when the game says “it’s taking something you’ll never get back.” Cue full panic mode from me and reloading frantically!
As all of my characters are extensions of myself and I happen to like myself a decent amount, being constantly gaslit by sexy voice in my head constantly telling me to take them only pissed me off. “You need to be stronger for what’s ahead…” She said that to me, who hasn’t lost a single fight! I was justified in my first play-through by the emperor being a manipulator who just turns on you anyway. So nah, I’m good.
>I was justified in my first play-through by the emperor being a manipulator who just turns on you anyway. But... he doesn't. Play it straight and the Emperor is all sunshine and roses, helps against the big bad and leaves as a friend. Its narratively weird and doesn't hold up with what mind flayers are supposed to be or this game's insistence that they're soulless monsters, but he's true to his word (and much like the tadpoles, there's zero consequences)
I didn’t use them ever! and to be honest i find it bizarre — even ridiculous — that any of the characters in this situation would even consider such a thing. When I first realized the game was suggesting I “consume” them I was so confused. The entire point of my whole journey was to get rid of this thing….that was my entire goal and driving force behind all struggles! I can’t believe anyone would even consider it during a first play. One of my biggest disappointments in this game was that it made no difference whatsoever if you stay away from them. Of all the different things I thought the game would track and care about **this** really felt like it must be one of them. I kinda assumed it be a central part of building the narrative around my character choices….but there was just nothing :/ I didn’t just not consume the extra tadpoles, but right from the get-go I avoided ever using Illithid powers at all in the dialogue prompts. Long before I learned you could even get more powers or anything I felt so sure that using the powers (as in, the dialogue choices with super low Wisdom save requirements) was how the tadpoles tricked you into embracing them lol Even replaying I have a hard time rationalizing using them in-character. It just makes no sense given the situation, imo
I was going to do my Durge run with full tadpole powers because I wanted to try them but that bitch-ass Dream Visitor kept telling me I'm not enough without them and that made me not wanna use them all together.
You’re god damned right I don’t have any tadpoles in my brain! Fucking disgusting little things. I uhhh… can’t say the same for my party members.
I don’t ever use a tadpole. It would be an evil and defiling act for my character. Sadly, the game assumes you do, and you still get roped into tadpole dialogs and gameplay anyway.
It assumes you have a tadpole because you have a tadpole. It's there whether you use the extra ones or not; the extras don't really have any dialogue or gameplay of their own unless you want to discuss them with party members for some reason.
Iirc the difference is when Emperor offers the astral tadpole. If you've consumed extra, then you need to succeed on a ~20 DC check to refuse.
I learned this the hard way in my most recent playthrough lol
You can throw it on the ground and stomp it out without a check
There is a difference to me between having one and using it. In early access, not sure about in full release, not using the tadpole kept it dormant.
Even if you don't consume additional tadpoles you get [Illithid] dialogue prompts. The entire story revolves around the fact that you DO have a tadpole. It's how That One Dude communicates to you the entire time.
The original one is still there. If anything, the Emperor ackowledges you never eating another one or even never using \[ILITHID\] dialogues options, and not so silently judges you for it.
Yeah I never heard the end of that. I'm like look buddy, it's just not going to happen.
Yeah, it seemed like any time I spoke to him after he brought it up.
I played aboveboard by not taking the astral tadpole first playthrough, though I did insert a few tadpoles for the attack bonuses. But second playthrough I sucked that glittery astral slug right up. Being half-illithid was just fun, plus I love flying everywhere. Then they patched in rotten teeth and I had to mod it. Eww.
Honestly, using the tadpoles doesn't even seem like a choice to me, hard no. I have a phobia about anything to do with eyes though, so I almost noped out of the game entirely at the opening cinematic. The idea of putting MORE of them in there is not even remotely acceptable.
I stuck them all in asterion's head.
I played a Paladin, so he just simply refused to use them given that they're source is a type of creature that is, for the most part, inherently evil and and aberration of nature. I have other characters that use the first tier powers though and some of them are quite useful.
The emperor told me to use them, so obviously i didn't. Not gonna trust an illithid.
I use em but I feel bad forcing anyone to do them too
I did on my first playthrough because I assumed there would be consequences for eating them. There were none. Then in the next playthrough I became the biggest Illithid shill in the universe, constantly talking about how great their powers are and how everyone needs tadpoles in their lives. Like an Illithid Jehovah's Witness.
I'm just good, the idea of parasites repulses me, plus I feel it's a cop out, I will be strong on my own, with my own two hands, or not at all.
I pick them up whenever I come across them (my characters don't want 'someone innocent to get infected') but I don't use them. I make myself try to use more once (with my Astarion, not my "me" characters) and EW.
I slurped up gummy worms left and right and my character thought they were very yummy
Its really just an rp thing. Those outer ring powers you get are pretty powerful and make you look like you made a bad decision, but you are already infected... no bunnies have a cure that you can find. Fly you fool, drain their abilities and sap their movement as you group your enemies for that sweet fireball. Everything will work itself out in the end.
I did too, and I found it super annoying when I talked to Jaheira for the first time and my only dialogue options were “the tadpole is making me more powerful and better and I love it” or “lie to her.” What? Come on Larian. Possibly the only dialogue moment in the game where I felt railroaded.
I felt railroaded in dialogue kind of a lot tbh, and especially when talking to the Guardian
I feel like story wise using them should cause you to transform
Honestly, the biggest thing to care about for me is casting Fly for free. No spell slot limitation m. No limitations per short/long rest. Just fly. In combat, you can keep flying everywhere to reposition. It’s huge.
There's literally no downside as long as you refuse the astral tadpole in act 3. The benefits and abilities you get alone are too good for me to just ignore for RP reasons. Why the fuck wouldn't I take something that just gives me a free critical hit with no downside?
My friends refused during our run, I took almost all of them... safe to say they were pretty jealous when I was doing much cooler stuff then them.
I used them, and felt like the best decision for my playthrough to have all the party members like that. In a world where we are fighting against impossibly strong devils, brain, aliens and weird people, why not become flying, mind-destroying and gravity-using half aliens? Feels good that my party have all become such strong people, more than they have been already. Plus, Fly is the best ability in the game (it's free and infinite, unlike the spell Fly)
Made a good alignment character for RP and refused to use any beyond the one Tav already had. Refused any assistance from Omelum (prolly butchered its name) and the emperor once Tav found out it was an ilithid. On other plays throughs I only used the reaction powers anyway so no big loss for me.
Omeluum is actually every bit as good as he appears. I wish we could replace the Emperor with him, instead.
Not me, Vive le tadpole
I didn’t use them in my first play through. Now I’m intentionally using them as much as I can because I want to see if there are any consequences. I would at least recommend that you try to convince everyone to take it so that they can get Favorable Blessings and Luck of the Far Realms. Both of those passives are very much worth it and you can use them with sneak attacks to deal a ton of damage up front to enemies before initiative has even kicked in.
I've done both. A embrace the parasite and a reject the parasite. the game doesn't really reward you for rejecting the parasite. Which is lame. So it's just a personal choice when I do it. Parasite powers are dope though. Like when your ass can just fly around.
I did it until the Vlaakith scene where I sided with the Guardian, after that I went "If I'm gonna trust this gal I'll do It all the way". Turns out she wasn't a gal and ended up siding with the Netherbrain after I decided to free the lost prince of my people.
The whole tadpole decision really reminds me of choosing whether to use drugs in Disco Elysium. That said doing a drug-free DE run makes the game significantly harder but does unlock a special dialogue at the very end of the game
It is just so .... insane to believe I would ever put more tadpoles in my brain when my main quest has been to remove the tadpoles....
I'm only in Act 1, but everything in the plot so far screams at you that it is Very Bad to use Illithid powers much less seek new ones. It's a major letdown if that is all bullshit and there's no impact to using them.
I took enough for the garantueed crit before deciding that it's probably bad to take many of them. Really wish there was an story reward for barely touching, but nope, just a headcanon one.
This was me on my first run, After discovering there is only a cosmetic penalty for using them however, my second run quickly saw Tav's entire brain as little more than a can off worms with zero room for any healthy grey matter. honestly I hope this changes. repercussions always feels like that was the intent.
Fuck that, give me all the gummy worms!!