I generally don't like the hero talk, especially when the main character is singled out in dialogue to proclaim that they did something. Most of the time the thing in question was a team effort and I would prefer to be able to express that. After all, even though your companions are npc, they are supposed to be your character's friends, it's just rude to not treat them as equals.

As for the tadpoles, I have never used more than two per character on Astarion and Gale because I felt that Lae'zel and Shart simply wouldn't allow such stupidity. ^^ I was also surprised that there only is the slightest ramification, when you use one. (You can't stop on the astral tadpole and have to succeed a wis check to deny it.