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

I don't think we're using that on BG3.
A) Are you seriously saying we cannot cure brain damage on BG3 but we can bring back people to life?
B) Again, how can the brain damage exceed any other lethal damage?

The only information we have is: if you forcibly remove it you die. And that already could be pretty stupid considering you could just get someone to crush your skull into the ground, remove the tadpole and resurrect you but hey, I guess they know something I don't.


Neither of them even close to divine entities, you can actually kill them at level 5, it's not like the leap from lvl 5 to 6 makes you a God you know?xD

So you think Larian will simply let us kill ourselves -- job done?

Are you listening to me at all? How many times do I have to repeat "what Larian wants us to think as of early act 1"? "This is the information available", "it may be untrue"???

If they want, from a story telling standpoint, to immediately contradict this -- fine. It's just unlikely we don't end up with excuse #3537 why normal treatments do not work. I'm less likely to believe in speculation than what is already in the game.

Probably not for narrative reasons but to say there will be absolutely no way we can get rid of the tadpole is silly. There are literally no limits to magic in D&D. If there is any issue you or your party can't magic away there's always someone else who can...either a god or some other entity. Just need to find the right someone to bargain with. I wouldn't be surprised if in BG3 there are still ways to get rid of the tadpole after embracing a lot of its powers.

So, you're proving my point. They want us to feel like a natural cure is impossible. As in, a medical treatment. What we have is Raphael promising us safety through magic.

Maybe more tadpoles cancel out each other since one must have dominance in order to transform you?

You'd only feel that way if you are unfamiliar with D&D to be honest. There are rarely any problems that are impossible to deal with. And we literally have the whole game to deal with this. And with the enormous number of narrative branches I really wouldn't worry about it that much...there are probably going to be five different ways to deal with this even after popping every tadpole you can get your hands on for power. Your companions might all leave you or force you to kill them, etc. but you'll probably be just fine.

Nope, just saying it doesn't make sense WITHIN the lore of the game UNLESS they know something I don't (and they probably do)


I don't think we're using that on BG3.
A) Are you seriously saying we cannot cure brain damage on BG3 but we can bring back people to life?
B) Again, how can the brain damage exceed any other lethal damage?

The only information we have is: if you forcibly remove it you die. And that already could be pretty stupid considering you could just get someone to crush your skull into the ground, remove the tadpole and resurrect you but hey, I guess they know something I don't.


I am, but it's like going to a group of 2 years old and asking for an explanation on ''how is rain formed'' and when you don't get an answer you stablished that nobody knows and it's impossible to get that knowledge from anywhere else.

"what Larian wants us to think as of early act 1" you just said that for the first time, and with that I agree, they want the players to feel like they're running in circles without a solution in sight, pretty much as Raphael does at camp.


Exactly, we know nobody in act 1 can help us, but that doesn't mean much considering we haven't speak with that many powerful ''people'' about it. And of course our tadpole is special and it harder to get rid off, maybe you can't even take it off even if you die but that also doesn't make sense because it's a parasite and can't live on its own, does the tadpole goes back to your brain magically when you resurrect? I don't know, that's what I want to get explained in the game.

Tadpoles do eat each other...it is how they survive for the first decade or their lives or so. Only the strongest get to be inserted into someone's brain. So it's not really out of the question that when you insert more only one survives.

The problem is that the tadpoles are largely just vehicles for the divine shadowmagic controlling them

That would be incredibly weak storytelling. I'm not discounting it, but that's an F from me if the build up stays in the final game.

Discount all the distractions in early act one. All paths lead to "we can't get it out the normal way". You're meant to have Raphael knocking no matter what you do. Using the tadpole introduces the plot point: you're a symbiote. You're melding together more and more.

But now, my maxed tadpole powered character can just... get an out? After all that, and likely much more? The central dilemma of your varying act 1 choices (as Tav) was fake? I don't know what to say. There's nothing to say. It's just so horribly bad, they should have left "kill yourself to cure yourself" in the game.

Not sure if this is shadowmagic specifically as that is a whole other can of worms. Is that known for certain from early access or something? We know the dead three are working together and seem to have some kind of alliance with the illithids but for Shar to bundled into this alliance would be something else. We know Shadowheart is on a mission for Shar to take the artifact to Baldur's Gate but to suggest Shar is directly involved with the dead three and the illithids is something else.

Alright: give me the reigning expert on tadpole removal. A higher one, that is not divine or a devil. Give me the person to make Omeluum look like a "two year old". If you can, I will believe you. If you can't, you'll know now why we disagree about what the set up /is/.

We know this for sure from Ethel. (Not that Shar gave consent to its use per se, though. There's mixed messages, but her magic is in your brain. That's why Ethel can't remove the tadpole if you haven't checked that path. I'm just not sure if you're more focused on her plotting here than the magic).

Well, there is sometimes more powerful magic that prevents your magic from being effective... And it certainly looks like that is the case.

By the Hells, I suspect that even Raphael might not have been able to extract it.

Yeah its known the tadpoles are wrapped in divine shadowmagic since the earliest days of EA.

Its why Halsin can't just fix us as soon as we free him

This is a pretty funny take to be honest. Pretty much any god can get rid of that tadpole, stasis or not...we know at least four deities are in some way involved with Baldur's Gate...the dead three and Shar but there will almost certainly be some good aligned deities having a word or two along the way...I wouldn't be surprised if a few other deities go out of their way to approach your party for their own interests...whether to stop the dead three or to try to manipulate you into aiding them. Also ALL mind flayers have genius level intellect...each and every one. Omeluum's intellect isn't special among his kind...ulitharids are smarter.

And that's also why there's speculation that the being in your dreams is Shar. Even the guardian now, in the flesh, seems a big fan of her.

Reread the first two sentences. Alternatively, I will see this as yet more macguffin speculation on top of Adgaroth's.

Everything is speculation but mcguffins are not rare in D&D...not in the least. You can find mcguffins laying around everywhere in D&D, really it's no big deal. It would downright insane to have a D&D adventure without at LEAST a handful of mcguffins. Hell, our party gets one from the start in the form of Shadowheart's artifact.