Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion The Zaith'isk and Lae'zel

I'll put most of this spoilers but it relates to the consequences of using the Zaith'isk.

There are consequences or after effects from Volo as well.

And personally I don't think consequences should always, hardly ever even, be spelled out for you. It's not realistic. So I don't think it comes down to "choice". It's kind of like the idea of f*** around and find out.

There are options to remove this debuff now as of Patch #1.

There is a passive check that tells you during the process what it's really trying to do, which involves passing a perception check, so it actually has everything to do with choice as the consequences of messing with the tadpole are clear as day;

Nettie - you can easily talk your way out of it without any negative consequences.
Gut - easy enough whether you fight her or get rescued from the prison. No negative consequences there.
Raphael - don't give him the right moment. Only an idiot would CHOOSE to make a deal with a devil.
Volo - I don't even speak to.
Ethel - only an idiot would CHOOSE to make a deal with a hag.
Omelum - I haven't noticed any change, drastic or otherwise, in the parasite powers as I never CHOOSE to use them.
Zaith'isk (sic)- "either maims us or empowers the tadpole if we successfully resist" or kills us if we don't. And after we break free of the device the gith are hostile.

It's badly written. Why is it only Lae'zel or Tav who get to go in the chair. With Lae'zel in the chair why is it only Tav who shares the pain and whatnot? Why are the saving throws for Tav so much less than for Lae'zel?

I've been playing RPGs long enough to smell a rat a mile off so I wasn't expecting to be rid of the parasite. The Larian caricature of a mad scientist/dentist's chair from hell was a bit of a giveaway.
I CHOSE to let Lae'zel have the chair as that was the entire point of us going there in the first place. I do have several methods of gaining bonuses to my throws (I'm a bard for starters) but making three 30s on the trot?
The Awakened buff is all fine and well if you are aware that it is available and you actually want it. I was unaware of it at the time (did I miss some info somewhere) and I'm not interested in the illithid powers thing. I fail to see any CHOICE anywhere in that.
So "it even has a perception check to tell the player it's designed to kill". And when do you get this perception check? Before you sit in the chair or while you are sat in the chair? What happens if you fail the DC30 check?
From what Lae'zel has told us up to this point we have no reason to believe that this purification business is anything other than something the Gith use on a regular basis in their ongoing war against the illithids.
So seriously there is no warning of potential permanent debuffs.

And while we are here. How does everyone and his gith uncle suddenly know that we have the artefact?

I CHOOSE not to speak to Volo ever. From the story perspective at the time of encountering him there is no need to. Will that cut off some options later in the game - quite possibly. Do I care - not a jot. That is a consequence I am willing to live. If it is something important to the plot then there will be other ways to get there.

The RP in RPG is 'role playing'. "f*** around and find out" is what an eight year old does with a box of matches. I prefer a slightly more grown up and intelligent approach to things.

I saw that but I couldn't get on the forum because of Gateway timeouts.

Maybe I'm overstating it when I said f*** around and find out".

My point was that it's not realistic for you to know the consequences of everything. Otherwise wouldn't that be like metagaming?

My original point wasn't about knowing the consequences of everything. My point was that you have no reason to expect the stat debuffs and you have no clear indication that you have received them or that they will be permanent with no way of removing them.
I could guess that refusing the treatment would turn the gith hostile which i wanted to avoid if possible. I could guess that it would also upset Lae'zel big time as would me going in the chair. I'm happy enough to make decisions on choices such as these. I could guess that something would go wrong with the procedure and the parasite would not get removed. I could guess that the mad doctor would not like this and would probably go hostile. I could accept that.
I could guess that I would have a last attempt or two to talk my way out of a fight with the doctor because after all this is a game about choices, right?

As has been pointed out above, Larian have now made it so that tadpoles can be used to remove the debuffs. Is this because it was originally planned to be so or because of complaints from players?