Originally Posted by KillerRabbit
I agree 55%?

You're right that it is a change in the lore but I'm okay with it. Largely because mind flayers were / are one of my least favorite parts of DnD lore . . .

It's a change because mind flayers have a god and an alignment and therefore have souls. But, again, no one really cared about Ilsensine and they never played an important role in any major FR event . . . If anything mind flayers make more sense without a god.

On things being living without souls - Tolkein also played around with this with Orc. Borrowing from Aquinas Tolkein had a distinction between fëa and hröa - soul and body. Orcs only had hröa being able to move, eat etc but no immoral force that survives the body.

The story of
Ansur was one of the few bits of the Emperor's story I like - it really shows ceremorphosis for the terrible fate it is. I agree, if your soul dies when you transform than what remains is a pod person / a facsimile / a hollow husk with the memories of the previous host. Ansur was a good friend in denial - he was hoping against hope for a cure. (and a wish spell or divine intervention would have worked).

If you do transform the right thing to do is kill the brain before your mind flayer nature asserts itself and then kill yourself. But, ya know, if you do that Jergal should save the hero by ensuring that their soul makes it to the afterlife.

Tolkien has nothing to do with it, D&D is by now its own thing and within its lore mind flayer not having a soul makes no sense.

And considering
that getting a true ressurection for Balduran would probably be more easy than whatever cure Ansur had in mind, what is there to be in denial about? Considering Ansurs status, the wealth of Baldur's Gate and how famed Balduran is obtaining a true ressurection (or even just ressurection, depending on how you rule on the bits and pieces that fall of during transformation) would have been trivial for him. Heck we would have theoretically been able to ressurect Balduran (or Ansur) with the scroll we get.
Just one of the many problems with Ansur.

Although I have to reread the necromancers notes in act 1 to check whatever changes Larian made to ressurection. They are quick to throw D&D away to force their story in.

And there is no "before the mind flayer nature asserts itself". The mind flayer is and has always been the mind flayer (well, tadpole). There is no one else who could contemplate suicide, let alone act on it. All that is nonsense invented by Larian because they wrote themself into a corner.

Last edited by Ixal; 06/10/23 03:53 AM.