Posting on official boards and reddit. Spoilers abound leave now if you don't want any.
I decided to do some testing with Omeluum and his Ring of Psyonic Protection so I went to visit him(her? it?) immediately after starting on the beach. Before patch 3 I had played using the tadpole basically every chance I could and using the new powers that unlocked, so I decided for this go I wanted to try not utilizing the tadpole at all.
One of the things I remembered from my earlier play was Omeluum's initial checkup and being told the tadpole was "10 times its size. Awake, aware and smug". I figured well crap that can't be good so what about if I don't use it. That line "10 times its size. Awake, aware and smug. is part of Omeluum's initial check before you do the quest to allow Omeluum a deeper read on the tadpole and it does NOT change if you've used the tadpole previously or not. I got the exact same line right after I got off the Nautaloid as I did after completing the entire surface world of EA using the tadpole left and right. It could just be an EA thing and not finished yet, but to me it seems to imply that regardless of if you use the tadpole or not we all finish the first act with the same level of tadpole progression. I can only hope that Larian has something in the works to differentiate between those who actually use the tadpole versus those that decide not to.
I found it particularly ironic when I was able to use a tadpole wisdom option and got the first dream sequence. I didn't notice the quest log update when I first used the tadpole in previous games, but it states something about how we should be careful cause we don't want to wake the tadpole up. I actually chuckled a little when I saw that this go since I had already had the checkup with Omeluum and found out it was awake.
Once I completed Omeluum's quest and managed to get the ring I then equipped it and went topside to see what changes I could find. Finishing Omeluum's quest gives just the MC a new tadpole power. Wearing the ring makes you unable to use the tadpole power and is suppose to shield you from psyonics which is why Omeluum had it. Playing through the game wearing the ring I noted the following which I'm actually not sure if intended or bugs.
1. You still do the mindlink with each person you encounter who also has a tadpole.
2. You still have access to and can use the [Illithid] Wisdom options in dialogue.
3. If you use the tadpole you can still get the class specific tadpole powers(though they too will be greyed out and unable to be used like the MC specific power). I did forget to check if the others can still use their powers if the MC is wearing the ring, but I'd guess since they are not wearing the ring themselves it doesn't affect them.
Like I said I'm not sure if the above 3 things are working as intended or not but seem like bugs to me and I really do hope that Larian has something specific in mind for players who absolutely do not do anything to advance the tadpole's growth.
