i would like to focus again on the reason(s) why this setup "someone must become a mind flayer" feels so bad. I think I have found the main culprit: the fact that these scenarios, as they are, turn the theme of your personal story, which you set by how you deal with the tadpoles, into its opposite.

The scenarios can be described like this:

(1) If you used the astral tadpole, your natural alliance is with the Emperor, and.....you don't need to become a mind flayer?
(2) If you did not use any tadpoles, your natural alliance is with Orphaus, and....you must turn into a mind flayer?

These make absolutely no thematic sense. These events should be the culmination of your personal story, not its total turn around into its opposite. Consider instead these scenarios:

(1) If you used the astral tadpole, your natural alliance is with the Emperor, and you can only win as a mind flayer.
(2) If you did not use any tadpoles, your natural alliance is with Orpheus, and you can only win as a human being (again, including all the playable races under the term for simplicity).
(3) If you used tadpoles but not the astral tadpole, you must decide if you want to win as a mind-flayer (foregoing your humanity and allying with the Emperor) or a human being (foregoing all the mind powers and allying with Orpheus).

Now, would anyone have been surprised if you had to turn into a mind flayer after having absorbed the astral tadpole and already being something like a half-illithid? I suppose not. Instead, that would've felt to be a natural culmination of the decisions you had made so far. Don't like being a mind flayer? Well, shouldn't have used all those tadpoles. Perfect karma. Nor would anyone have been surprised if the Emperor turned away from you because you weren't illithid enough. A bit harder to contrive, but he was rather insistent on you using more tadpoles for some reason, and it would've made narrative sense.

As for how that could be contrived: You can do it by positing that Orpheus won't trust you if you're too much mind flayer, and vice versa with the Emperor, but here's a scenario that plays more on your nature: the Nether brain can be held down by your combined mind power. But the necessary gestalt mind can only form between compatible beings. The Emperor can only join with a mind flayer, Orpheus can not join with a mind flayer. You might be able to tweak the scenario by letting a party member join in your stead if you want to ally against your predisposition, but why would you want to? This is, after all, the culimination of the road you started walking a long time ago.

What does everyone think? Am I onto something here?

Last edited by Ieldra2; 10/10/23 03:29 PM.