I'm not sure where to put this question,I do it here as it is a kind of lore stuff for me. I'm playing a modded game, in which besides other things enemies get stronger, from stats to abilities. So far, so good, but in the Z'rell fight at the end of Act 2 currently I noticed that she has some high tier Illithid powers. Which makes it very difficult (to put it mildly) to win the fight on the main floor of the Towers.
I never liked the idea of the Illithid powers and deeply regret their introduction into the game. I don't use them except some lower tiers on Astarion because he seems to me to be the only one who would want them. When considering what to do (change the mod, increase party size, use cheesy metagame tactics, ...) first I wonder how probable it was that other true souls outside the party would have Illithid powers. I was of the impression that it is some special feature for Tav and companions, allowed by the collaboration with the Emperor and the availabilty of many surplus tadpoles. On the other hand it would greatly improve the power of the Absolute's army if it's warriors had access to op Illithid stuff.
So, does it fit from the lore (if we accept the sad existence of these powers), the mechanics of the powers, the will of the three stone bearers, the brain, the availability of tadpoles etc., that some medium to high ranked enemies got such powers, making them partly stronger than vanilla Ketheric/Gortash/Orin combined?
