As it currently stands there is practically no reason to choose the great old one over the fiend (other than role play I guess?). The tadpole mind reading and control abilities are superior versions of what the subclass offers with "awakened mind". The fiend offers more survivability and a superior spell list. Meanwhile the great old one gets a slew of random abilities centered around gathering information, reading thoughts and sending telepathic messages (and a tiny bit of crowd control). I like the sound of dissonant whispers and Tasha's hideous laughter but the resist rate is pretty terrible on both (I haven't tried phantasmal force, if its even implemented).
All the abilities sound really cool in theory, but can they actually have utility in a game like baldurs gate 3? Can sending actually be implemented to be useful in a game like this? What about clairvoyance? In a D&D session maybe spells like this have a place but I have trouble seeing them be useful in baldurs gate 3 save for niche specific situations the developers put in. Even wizards do detect thoughts better by having additional spell slots....
(Later features like entropic ward and mind shield do sound amazing though!)
I personally believe at the very least awakened mind should be reworked to provide some sort of tangible benefit. Maybe an extra spell slot or learning 2 spells per level instead of the standard one. or gaining the ability to cast detect thoughts once per day for free? Larian reworked ranger so I'm hoping this subclass may get looked at as well.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the great old one. I really want for this subclass to be implemented well because I find it more thematically interesting than "fiend for fey".
