I would much prefer my temptations to darkness be made in moments of weakness or failure, when I want or need something that I've personally failed to manage... and I give in, and take the easy way to get there, because I want it, and I couldn't manage it on my own. That's true temptation.
An interesting thought, but it would need reworking the entire game because none of the encounters are built like this.
This is the only scene (i think) where using the tadpole is mandatory for most classes. Everywhere else, the tadpole tempts you by being a shortcut rather than a fallback. If you decide to roll for deception, there’s no going back to using the tadpole.
At least this way, the evil path is always available to players. It’s not contingent on players failing a check, which might feel limiting to some.
On an UI note, I wish the game showed which party members still have their “tadpole influence charge” for the day. It’s easy to forget who’s got what left on long days when several PCs started conversations.
