Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Illithid Powers!!

Hi,
So i´ve read about this new Illithid Power System(or IPS :P) and i was wondering what do you think the consequences of getting those abilities will be.

Probably bad...or at least difficult and costly to get out of. This is D&D after all so where this could lead is difficult to predict. We'll most likely have to do something about it later or face a bad ending type consequence but there might also be unexpected ways out like making some sort of deal with a deity or another...but those sorts of things typically come at cost in D&D...some entities might offer to help you out and in exchange they get your soul after you die which you can then then try to work around by finding means to immortality...maybe lichdom, or finding a way to become a god yourself, etc.

Yeah. I´m a bit worried that those powers overpass the negative things that they may have through the story. They seem pretty powerful, almost godlike if you get them all.

I mean....I like more power and skills. But I am really struggling with the idea that in order to do this I am going to need to allow multiple vile little creatures swimming in my brain. I am not even a big RPer, I lean more to the combat strategy and exploration side of things. And even for me this is difficult so swallow (or in this case, drill another eye hole)

I think that is intentional by the developers. It's intended to communicate very clearly and in no uncertain terms that "There's a lot of power to be gained from this but this is definitely a bad idea. You should absolutely not be doing this." And that's the temptation. But I am curious to see where the game goes with it. This being such a reactive game and D&D it's probably not as simple as "this bad"...it will probably be bad but there will probably also be interesting ways out of it as well. Probably not easy or simple ways out but you know...such is D&D.

The temptation seems VERY well done compared to what we have in EA. But I really hope the consequences are huge.

I also want to be rewarded for playing "good" characters and I would HATE to feel that my characters are so much weaker during an entire playthough if it is just about happy / unhappy ending.

I also hope that I'll be able to unlock the tadpole powers of specific character (rather than the entire group automatically as it is in EA).
I would love to be able to use Astarion as a laboratory rat !

I'll put my imaginary clout chips on there being probably zero consequences.

I think, I stay the hell away from those powers. Who wants to have more of those brainworms in their head?
Maybe it is worth doing an Astarion playthrough to test that out - he likes his brainworm and I don't care about him, so don't care, if he gets a bad ending.

There will be a disparity in personal strength between evil and good playthroughs but this is by design. You can choose to go evil and you will end up vastly more powerful but alone vs if you play good you won't be as powerful but you'll have a lot more companions, friends, and allies. It will be a very different experience to reach the city of Baldur's Gate very powerful but alone vs being surrounded by allies. This is what Swen said when answering questions about the dark urge though I think that applies to more than strictly the dark urge. So there is an intended balance there...how much will you sacrifice for power. This is very much intended to illustrate a point. If the game handed you the power anyway regardless of choice then the choice would be meaningless...you wouldn't be inconvenienced in the slightest by just pressing the "do gud" button without a second thought every time. You can be good if you want...but there is a steep price for it just as there is a steep price for going evil as well.

In my opinion the idea of putting more things in your head sounds a bit silly. I think it would seem more reasonable if instead of adopting and welcoming them to your brain, you still killed the other tadpoles but were given the option for your own tadpole to somehow absorbe their essence or something.

It'll destroy any narrative weight imo, but it's Larian, so rule of cool wins out.

Define ''consequences'', if killing your companions or ''forcing them'' to stop you it's not a consequence for you then yeah, 0 consequences.

If being literally unable to finish the game because you're evil is the only thing that constitutes consequence for you then yeah, that's not gonna happen xD

What I really want to know is how they're going to try to logically defend putting more shit in your head. I hope it's intriguing, but I have a feeling it might be hand-waved aside. We'll have to see.

You're probably just absorbing the tadpole's life essence or something, there's no way you're going to stick 15 tadpoles in your brain, it makes no sense thematically, logically or physically xD

but are we ever going to sit down and have a chat and say "so, we're actively encouraging this tadpole in our head right? and that's okay because...?" and hopefully there's a logical reason other than "nothing to lose" or "eh, it's cool".

I think we will, Astarion mentions ''controlling'' the tadpole's powers very early in the game. My guess is we'll get some conversation with the other origins discussing the good/bad of going that route when we first think about enhancing our tadpole via other tadpoles.

I would be very surprised if none of that happens tbh.

We're not actually turning into a mindflayer despite the tadpole, so what exactly is the problem with multiple tadpoles? It's not like we can suddenly turn into multiple mindflayers.

(Yes, I'm definitely going to try a playthrough where I take the 'pole power route. Probably with a fiend warlock, to fit the theme of ideas that trade short term rewards for questionable long term consequences)

The logic there would be the mysterious guardian figure that encourages us to embrace the tadpole's power with the promise she'll protect us. Which I mean...what could possibly go wrong, amirite? Hahahaha. But seriously...if nothing else it's got to lead somewhere interesting...possibly very very bad but interesting nonetheless.

Obviously you're not going to outright die or turn into a mindflayer (maybe you do temporarily), but you're probably going to end up confronting some of your companions with lethal outcomes or getting mind controlled by the tadpole on some decisions, preventing you from reaching certain outcomes on the main story, meeting certain characters or the option to befriend them, etc.

That is a potential risk, yes. But there should be enough tadpoles around to not really need to harvest those of the companions I'm keeping, and I don't think Larian would take away agency too much even though it might have made sense.

The commentary they've made is that they wanted to offer players some form of progression once we reach the point where regular experience levels slow down a bit, and if that's the idea of the tadpole powers then it doesn't seem likely that anything but total rejection leads to total disaster.